Planet Labs

Planet Labs, Inc. (formerly Cosmogia, Inc.) is an American private Earth imaging company based in San Francisco, California.[1][2] Their goal is to image the entirety of the Earth daily to monitor changes and pinpoint trends.[5]

Planet.
TypePrivate
Industry
Founded29 December 2010[1][2]
FounderWill Marshall, Chris Boshuizen, Robbie Schingler[1][2]
Headquarters
San Francisco, California
,
United States[2]
Number of locations
6 offices (USA, Germany, Netherlands, Canada)[2]
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Will Marshall(CEO)
Robbie Schingler(CSO)[1][3]
Products"Dove", "RapidEye", and "SkySat" imaging satellites
ServicesSatellite-based Earth imaging and analytics
Number of employees
480 (as of March 2018)[4]
Websiteplanet.com

The company designs and manufactures Triple-CubeSat miniature satellites called Doves that are then delivered into orbit as secondary payloads on other rocket launch missions. Each Dove is equipped with a high-powered telescope and camera programmed to capture different swaths of Earth.[6] Each Dove Earth observation satellite continuously scans Earth, sending data once it passes over a ground station, by means of a frame image sensor.[7]

The images gathered by Doves, which can be accessed online and some of which is available under an open data access policy,[8] provide up-to-date information relevant to climate monitoring, crop yield prediction, urban planning, and disaster response.[1] With acquisition of BlackBridge in July 2015, Planet Labs had 87 Dove and 5 RapidEye satellites launched into orbit.[9] In 2017, Planet launched an additional 88 Dove satellites, and Google sold its subsidiary Terra Bella and its SkySat satellite constellation to Planet Labs.[10][11][12] By September 2018 the company had launched nearly 300 satellites, 150 of which are active.[13] In 2020, Planet Labs launched six additional high-resolution SkySats, SkySats 16-21, and 35 Dove satellites.[14]

History
First pair of the 28 Planet Labs satellites launched from the ISS via the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer (2014)

Planet Labs was founded in 2010 as Cosmogia by former NASA scientists Chris Boshuizen, Will Marshall, and Robbie Schingler.[15][16][17] The initial goal of the company was to make use of information gathered from space to help with life on Earth. The group of scientists considered the problem with most satellites to be their large and clunky form, prompting them to build inexpensive and compact satellites to be manufactured in bulk, called CubeSats.[18] The small group began building Planet's first satellite in a California garage.[19]

Planet Labs launched two demonstration CubeSats, Dove 1 and Dove 2, in April 2013.[20] Both Dove 1 (aboard Antares 110 rocket) and Dove 2 (aboard a Soyuz Rocket) were placed in a sun-synchronous orbit.[21] Dove 3 and Dove 4 were launched in November 2013.[16]

In June 2013, it announced plans for Flock-1, a constellation of 28 Earth-observing satellites.[20]

The Flock-1 CubeSats were brought to the International Space Station in January 2014[22] and deployed via the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer in mid-February.[23] The company planned to launch a total of 131 satellites by mid-2015.[24]

In January 2015, the firm raised $95 million in funding.[25] As of May 2015, Planet Labs raised a total amount of $183 million in venture capital financing.[26]

In July 2015, Planet Labs acquired BlackBridge and its RapidEye constellation.[27]

On April 18, 2017, Google completed the sale of Terra Bella and its SkySat satellite constellation to Planet Labs.[10][11][28] As part of the sale, Google acquired an equity stake in Planet and entered into a multi-year agreement to purchase SkySat imaging data.[29]

On January 21, 2018, a Dove Pioneer CubeSat was part of the payload of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket, the first orbital-entry craft launched from a privately owned and operated spaceport at Mahia Peninsula in New Zealand.

In July 2018, Planet laid off somewhat less than ten percent of its workforce.[30] In September 2018, the company had launched a total of 298 satellites, 150 of which were still active.[13]

On December 18, 2018, Planet announced they were in the process of acquiring the St Louis company, Boundless Spatial, Inc., a geospatial data software solutions company.[31][32] The portfolio of Boundless will help improve data subscription services and aid in Planet's long term goal of increasing cooperation between the company and the U.S. government.[31][32]

On 3 July 2020, it was mentioned in the news that the company had "more than 120" active satellites at the time "providing daily imaging coverage over all of the world’s landmass".[33]

In August 2020, Planet completed it’s SkySat Constellation of 21 satellites by launching the final three SkySats on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.[34]

Flock satellite constellations

Planet's PlanetScope satellite constellation is designed to observe Earth. By using several small satellites, CubeSats, the constellation produces three to five meters high resolution images of Earth. The flock collects images from latitudes that are within 52 degrees of Earth's equator.[35] A large portion of the world's agricultural regions and population lie within the area imaged by the flock.[35] Initially, the mission uses ISS (International Space Station) and different track launch vehicles to get in orbit.[36]

Planet's Dove satellites are CubeSats that weigh 4 kilograms (8.8 lb) (1000 times lower than legacy commercial imaging satellites), 10 by 10 by 30 centimetres (3.9 in × 3.9 in × 11.8 in) in length, width and height,[37] orbit at a height of about 400 kilometres (250 mi) and provide imagery with a resolution of 3–5 metres (9.8–16.4 ft) and envisaged environmental, humanitarian, and business applications.[38][39]

Flock 2e, consisting of twenty Dove Satellites,[40] was launched on 23 March 2016 on the Cygnus CRS OA-6 cargo mission.[41]

Flock 2p, consisting of twelve Dove satellites, and Flock 3p, consisting of 88 Dove satellites, were launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, by ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) PSLV-C37 on 22 June 2016 and 15 February 2017, respectively.[42][43][44] Flock 3p was the largest satellite fleet ever launched.[45]

Flock 2k, consisting of 48 Dove satellites, launched on 14 July 2017 aboard Soyuz-2.1a.[46][47]

Flock 3m, consisting of just four Dove satellites, was launched in 31 October 2017 on a Minotaur C rocket, along with six of Planet's SkySat satellites.[48]

Flock 3p', which consists of four Dove satellites, was launched in India ISRO's PSLV-C40 mission on 12 January 2018.[49]

Flock 3s, consisting of 3 satellites launched on 3 December 2018 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.[50]

Flock 3k, consisting of 12 Dove satellites, was launched on 26 December 2018 at 05:00:00 UTC. The flock was launched on a Soyuz Rocket from the Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia into a sun-synchronous orbit.[51][52]

Flock 4a, launched 1 April 2019, consisting of 20 satellites with improved imaging technology. The flock was delivered to 504 km sun-synchronous orbit on ISRO's PSLV-C45 rocket.[53][54]

Flock 4p, consisting 12 SuperDoves[55] with multiple spectral bands and other improvements was launched at 03:58 UTC on 27 November 2019 by PSLV C47 into a sun-synchronous orbit.[56][57]

Flock 4e, consisting of 5 SuperDoves was planned to be launched into a 500 km SSO orbit onboard Electron on 4 July 2020.[58] However, due to a failure during the second stage burn, the payloads failed to reach orbit.[59]

Flock 4e’, consisting of nine SuperDoves, was successfully launched on Rocket Labs Electron Rocket on October 28, 2020.[60]

Three images of Mount Dukono located in the northern part of Halmahera island, Indonesia. Due to the Dove satellites orbiting in "flocks", it's possible to make daily or even hourly image updates of the Earth's surface.

RapidEye
Main article: RapidEye

RapidEye was a five-satellite constellation producing 5 metres (16 ft) resolution imagery that Planet acquired from the German company BlackBridge.

The satellites were built by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL)[61] of Guildford, subcontracted by MacDonald Dettwiler (MDA) of Richmond, Canada. Each satellite was based on an evolution of the flight-proven SSTL-150[62] bus, measuring less than 1 cubic metre (35 cu ft) and weighing 150 kilograms (330 lb) (bus + payload) each. They were launched on 29 August 2008 on a Dnepr rocket from Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.[63]

Each of RapidEye's five satellites contained identical Jena-Optronik Spaceborne Scanner JSS 56[64] multi-spectral pushbroom sensor imagers. The five satellites traveled on the same orbital plane (at an altitude of 630 km), and together were capable of collecting over 4 million kilometres (2.5×10^6 mi) of 5 metres (16 ft) resolution, 5-band color imagery every day. They collected data in the Blue (440-510 nm), Green (520-590 nm), Red (630-690 nm), Red-Edge (690-730 nm) and Near-Infrared (760-880 nm).

The RapidEye constellation was officially retired in April 2020.[65]

SkySat
Main article: SkySat

SkySat is a constellation of sub-metre resolution Earth observation satellites that provide imagery, high-definition video and analytics services.[28] Planet acquired the satellites with their purchase of Terra Bella (formerly Skybox Imaging), a Mountain View, California-based company founded in 2009 by Dan Berkenstock, Julian Mann, John Fenwick, and Ching-Yu Hu,[66] from Google in 2017.[67]

The SkySat satellites are based on the CubeSat concept, using inexpensive automotive grade electronics and fast commercially available processors,[68] but scaled up to approximately the size of a minifridge.[69] The satellites are approximately 80 centimetres (31 in) long, compared to approximately 30 centimetres (12 in) for a 3U CubeSat, and weigh 100 kilograms (220 lb).[69]

The first SkySat satellite, SkySat-1, was launched on a Dnepr (rocket) from Yasny, Russia on 21 November 2013,[70] and the second, SkySat-2, launched on a Soyuz-2/Fregat rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan on 8 July 2014.[71] Four more SkySat units were launched on 16 September 2016, by the Vega rocket's seventh flight from Kourou,[72] and six more SkySat satellites, along with four Dove CubeSats, were launched on a Minotaur-C rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base on 31 October 2017.[73][74]

In 2020, Planet lowered their constellation of 15 SkySats from an altitude of 500 kilometers to 450 kilometers to improved the resolution of orthorectified imagery from 80 centimeters to 50 centimeters per pixel.[75]

On June 13 2020, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched SkySats 16, 17 and 18 along with a batch of its Starlink communications satellites.[76]

SkySats 19, 20 and 21 were launched on August 18, 2020 on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. This completed the SkySat fleet of 21 high-resolution satellites.[77]

When launched, the SkySat constellation was orbiting at an altitude of 450 kilometres (280 mi) and has a multispectral, panchromatic, and video sensor. It has a spatial resolution of 0.9 metres in its 400–900 nm panchromatic band, making it the smallest satellite to be put in orbit capable of such high resolution imagery. The multispectral sensor collects data in blue (450–515 nm), green (515–595 nm), red (605–695 nm), and near-infrared (740–900 nm) bands, all at 2 metre resolution.[78]

See also

References
  1. "Planet Labs website". Planet.co. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  2. "Crunchbase profile of Planet Labs". Crunchbase.com. 2015. Retrieved September 23, 2015.
  3. "Planet Labs Website". Planet.com. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  4. "Planet Labs Website". Planet.com. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  5. "Company". Planet. 2018-05-07. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
  6. "The Tiny Satellites Ushering in the New Space Revolution". Bloomberg.com. 2017-06-29. Retrieved 2018-03-20.
  7. PLANET IMAGERY PRODUCT SPECIFICATION: PLANETSCOPE & RAPIDEYE
  8. "Planet Explorer". Planet.com. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  9. Tepper, Fitz (15 July 2015). "Satellite Maker Planet Labs Acquires BlackBridge's Geospatial Business". TechCrunch.com. Retrieved 28 September 2015.
  10. "Google sells satellite imaging business Terra Bella to Planet Labs". Reuters. 3 February 2017. Retrieved 9 February 2017.
  11. "Planet to Acquire Terra Bella from Google, Sign Multi-Year Data Contract" (Press release). Planet Labs. 3 February 2017.
  12. Gordon, Amy (2017-02-04). "Google Sells Satellite Imaging Business Terra Bella To Planet". Tech Times. Retrieved 2018-05-22.
  13. "Inside Planet Labs' new satellite manufacturing site". TechCrunch. 2018-09-14. Retrieved 2018-10-26.
  14. "Planet's satellites aim for still sharper view of Earth". BBC News. 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  15. Brewster, Signe. "With plans to launch 28 satellites next year, at Planet Labs, the space industry is back", gigaom.com, 2 August 2013. Retrieved on 18 September 2013.
  16. Graham, William. "Russian Dnepr conducts record breaking 32 satellite haul", nasaspaceflight.com, 21 November 2013. Retrieved on 26 November 2013.
  17. Solon, Olivia. "In pictures: Planet Labs' nanosatellites" Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine, Wired, 13 August 2013. Retrieved on 26 November 2013.
  18. "Planet Labs Imagery: The Entire Earth Everyday". GIS Geography. 2018-04-28. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
  19. "History of Planet". Retrieved 2019-03-07.
  20. Wall, Mike. "Planet Labs Unveils Tiny Earth-Observation Satellite Family", space.com, 31 August 2013. Retrieved on 18 September 2013.
  21. "History of Planet". Planet. Retrieved 2019-03-07.
  22. Wall, Mike. "Record-Breaking 33 'Cubesats' to Launch from Space Station This Month", space.com, 4 February 2014. Retrieved on 6 February 2014.
  23. Klotz, Irene. "Satellite 'Flock' Launched From ISS Cubesat Cannon: Photos", discovery.com, 18 February 2014, Retrieved on 25 April 2014.
  24. Taylor, Richard. "Mini-satellites send high-definition views of Earth", BBC, 15 May 2014. Retrieved on 16 May 2014.
  25. Reuters (20 January 2015). "SpaceX raises $1 billion in funding from Google, Fidelity". NewsDaily. Archived from the original on 21 January 2015.
  26. Sarah Buhr. "Planet Labs Rockets To $118 Million In Series C Funding To Cover The Earth In Tiny Satellites". TechCrunch. AOL.
  27. Foust, Jeff (2015-07-15). "Planet Labs Buying BlackBridge and its RapidEye Constellation". Space News. Retrieved 16 July 2015.
  28. "Terra Bella Officially Joins Planet". planet.com. Retrieved 18 April 2017.
  29. Foust, Jeff (19 April 2017). "Planet confirms Google stake as Terra Bella deal closes - SpaceNews.com". SpaceNews.com. Space News. Retrieved 1 May 2017.
  30. Earth observation startup Planet trims workforce by “less than ten percent”, SpaceNews, 18July 2018, accessed 21 July 2018.
  31. "Planet to Acquire Boundless to Further Support U.S. Government Business". Retrieved 2019-03-10.
  32. Fernholz, Tim. "Investors lose $24 million in satellite intelligence tie-up gone wrong". Quartz.
  33. https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/07/03/rocket-lab-aims-for-saturday-launch-in-new-zealand-closes-in-on-first-mission-from-virginia/
  34. "Satellites Are Capturing the Protests, and Just About Everything Else on Earth". Bloomberg.com. 2020-06-09. Retrieved 2020-12-09.
  35. Escobedo Jr., Victor M. (November 22, 2016). "NASA - NanoRacks-Planet Labs-Dove". www.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2019-03-05. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  36. "Flock-3m – Minotaur-C – SkySat". spaceflight101.com. Retrieved 12 March 2018.
  37. Will Marshall: Tiny satellites that photograph the entire planet, every day. YouTube. 18 November 2014.
  38. Werner, Debra. "With 2 More Cubesats in Orbit, Earth-imaging Startup Planet Labs Ships Next Batch of 28 to Wallops", spacenews.com, 26 November 2013. Retrieved on 26 November 2013.
  39. Bradshaw, Tim. "US start-up to launch record number of satellites", ft.com, 26 November 2013. Retrieved on 26 November 2013.
  40. Krebs, Gunter Dirk (16 January 2016). "The Flock Earth observing constellation". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2016-01-22.
  41. Graham, William (March 22, 2016). "OA-6 Cygnus launched to the ISS via Atlas V". NASA Spaceflight. Retrieved 2016-03-27.
  42. 10 things to know about ISRO's 20 satellites mission Times of India 22 June 2016
  43. Flock-1 Gunther's Space Page 22 June 2016
  44. "Isro creates history, launches 104 satellites in one go". The Times of India. 15 February 2017. Retrieved 15 February 2017.
  45. "India launches 88 earth imaging satellites from Planet Labs". PCWorld. Retrieved 2017-02-15.
  46. "Launch Success – Russia's Soyuz Delivers 73 Satellites in Complex Multi-Orbit Mission – Spaceflight101". spaceflight101.com. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  47. "When Doves Fly: 48 Flock 2k Satellites Successfully Launched and Deployed". www.planet.com. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  48. "Ten commercial Earth-observing satellites launched aboard Minotaur-C rocket – Spaceflight Now". spaceflightnow.com. Retrieved 2017-11-03.
  49. "Planet to fly four Dove satellites on ISRO's PSLV-C40". Planet Lab. 2017-11-29. Retrieved 2018-01-18.
  50. Safyan, Mike (3 December 2018). "Flock 3s And 2 SkySats Successfully Launch On Falcon 9 SSO-A". Planet Labs. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  51. "12 Dove Satellites Successfully Launched on Soyuz Rocket". Retrieved 2019-03-06.
  52. "NASA - NSSDCA - Spacecraft - Details". nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov. Retrieved 2019-03-06. This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  53. Safyan, Mike (6 March 2019). "First Up For 2019: PSLV Launch Of 20 Next Generation Doves". Planet Labs. Retrieved 8 March 2019.
  54. "PSLV-C45 successfully launches EMISAT and 28 customer satellites". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  55. "Planet Announces More Spectral Bands, 50cm Resolution, Global Analytics, and Change Detection". Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  56. "12 SuperDove Satellites Hitching a Ride to Orbit on the PSLV". Retrieved 2019-10-24.
  57. "A Successful Launch for Flock 4p on the PSLV". Retrieved 2019-11-28.
  58. "Pics or It Didn't Happen: The Rocket Lab Launch of Five Ne..." Retrieved 2020-07-05.
  59. Foust, Jeff (4 July 2020). "Rocket Lab Electron launch fails". SpaceNews. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  60. Clark, Stephen. "Rocket Lab successfully launches satellites for Planet and Canon – Spaceflight Now". Retrieved 2020-12-16.
  61. "SSTL's RapidEye blog, 22 May 2008". Archived from the original on 2009-11-05.
  62. Krebs, Gunter (24 October 2019). "SSTL: SSTL-150". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 18 December 2019.
  63. "Video of the launch provided by Russian space agency Roscosmos". tvroscosmos.ru. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  64. "Jena-Optronik".
  65. "Historic RapidEye Constellation Captures Last Light". Planet Labs. 2 April 2020. Retrieved 3 April 2020.
  66. Perry, Tekla S. (1 May 2013). "Start-up Profile: Skybox Imaging". IEEE Spectrum. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  67. Henry, Caleb (2014-08-05). "Google Closes Skybox Imaging Purchase". Via Satellite. Retrieved 2014-08-10.
  68. "High-Performance Satellites". Skybox Imaging. Archived from the original on 17 March 2015. Retrieved 17 March 2017.
  69. "Inside a Startup's Plan to Turn a Swarm of DIY Satellites Into an All-Seeing Eye". wired.com. Retrieved 4 November 2017.
  70. Clark, Stephen. "Silo-launched Dnepr rocket delivers 32 satellites to space". Website. Spaceflight Now. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
  71. Hearn, Mark. "Skybox Imaging successfully launches its SkySat-2 Earth observation satellite". Website. 9to5Google. Retrieved 8 July 2014.
  72. Clark, Stephen (16 September 2016). "Vega rocket hauls up quintet of Earth observation satellites". Spaceflight Now.
  73. Graham, William (31 October 2017). "Orbital ATK Minotaur-C launches SkySat mission out of Vandenberg". NASASpaceFlight.
  74. "Planet Doubles Sub-1 Meter Imaging Capacity With Successful Launch Of 6 SkySats". www.planet.com (Press release). Planet Labs Inc.
  75. "SpaceX launches 58 Starlink satellites, three Planet SkySats on Falcon 9". SpaceNews. 2020-06-13. Retrieved 2021-01-07.
  76. "SpaceX launches 58 Starlink satellites, three Planet SkySats on Falcon 9". SpaceNews. 2020-06-13. Retrieved 2021-01-22.
  77. Kriening, Torsten (2020-08-20). "Planets SkySat Constellation now Complete". SpaceWatch.Global. Retrieved 2021-01-22.
  78. "SkySat-1 Satellite Sensor". Satellite Imaging Corp. Retrieved 2018-03-22.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.