Planet Labs

Did You Know?

• On December 8, 2021, Planet Labs began trading on the New York Stock Exchange after merging with SPAC DMY Technology Group Inc IV.
• In August 2024, Planet launched its first hyperspectral satellite, Tanager-1, along with 36 SuperDove satellites on the SpaceX Transporter-11 mission.

History

Planet Labs started in 2010 under the name Cosmogia, founded by three former NASA scientists: Chris Boshuizen, Will Marshall, and Robbie Schingler. In 2011, they brought in John Kuolt, whose Oxford University Entrepreneurial Project became the company’s original business plan. The founders wanted to use space-based data to improve life on Earth, and they thought most satellites were too big and clunky. So they built small, cheap CubeSats that could be mass-produced, beginning work in a California garage.

Two test satellites, Dove 1 and Dove 2, launched in April 2013—one on an Antares 110 rocket, the other on a Soyuz rocket—both placed in Sun-synchronous orbit. Dove 3 and Dove 4 followed in November 2013. In June 2013, the company announced Flock-1, a constellation of 28 Earth-observing satellites. Those CubeSats were brought to the International Space Station in January 2014 and deployed via the NanoRacks CubeSat Deployer in mid-February.

Planet planned to launch a total of 131 satellites by mid-2015. The firm raised $95 million in January 2015, bringing total venture capital to $183 million by May 2015. In July 2015, Planet acquired BlackBridge and its RapidEye constellation. On April 18, 2017, Google completed the sale of Terra Bella and its SkySat satellite constellation to Planet Labs.

As part of the sale, Google acquired an equity stake in Planet and entered into a multi-year agreement to purchase SkySat imaging data. A Dove Pioneer CubeSat was part of the payload of a Rocket Lab Electron rocket on January 21, 2018, the first orbital-entry craft launched from a privately owned and operated spaceport at Māhia Peninsula in New Zealand. In July 2018, Planet laid off somewhat less than ten percent of its workforce. By September 2018, the company had launched a total of 298 satellites, 150 of which were still active.

On December 18, 2018, Planet announced they were in the process of acquiring the St. Louis company, Boundless Spatial, Inc., a geospatial data software company.

Flock satellite constellations {{anchor|Flock}}

Planet's Dove Earth observation satellites continuously scan Earth, sending data once they pass over a ground station, by means of a frame image sensor. Each Dove is equipped with a high-powered telescope and camera programmed to capture different swaths of the Earth. The company designs and manufactures 3U-CubeSat miniature satellites called Doves that are delivered into orbit as secondary payloads on other rocket launch missions. Flock 1c, consisting of 11 Dove satellites, launched on 19 June 2014 with a Dnepr rocket on a record-breaking launch carrying 37 satellites. Flock 1d, 26 Dove satellites, was lost when the Antares rocket exploded seconds after liftoff during the Cygnus Orb-3 cargo mission.