NASA JPL Imaging Spectrometer Ready for Tanager 1 Integration

Published a year ago via Business Wire

Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL), a leading provider of daily data and insights about Earth, today announced that an imaging spectrometer, developed by NASA JPL, has been handed off to its team for integration onto its Tanager 1 hyperspectral satellite. This marks a major milestone for the Carbon Mapper Coalition, a public-private partnership announced in 2021, with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of global methane and carbon dioxide emissions. As part of this coalition, Planet is actively building and launching two hyperspectral satellites, Tanager 1 and Tanager 2, with the first expected to be ready to launch in 2024. This exquisite instrument will act as the “eye” of the satellite, allowing the Coalition to detect, pinpoint, and quantify point source emissions of methane and carbon dioxide.

In addition to the progress being made on Tanager, Planet is continuing to push its Pelican program forward, with the first Tech Demo, TD1, now fully built and expected to be ready for launch later this year. TD1 is a true R&D effort and this marks an important step for not only Pelican, but also the Tanager satellite, as the two constellations share a common platform that holds each payload’s scientific instruments, known as the satellite bus. TD1’s primary mission will be to test the satellite platform and operational systems on-orbit. The learnings from TD1 will be integrated in Planet’s upcoming Tanager satellite builds.

As Planet gears up to launch Tanager 1 and 2, the company is engaging closely with users in its Early Access Program (EAP) to understand how hyperspectral data will deliver the greatest value to these organizations. This program, which leverages synthetic data developed in partnership with Rendered.ai, will allow Planet to generate well-rounded market feedback for our satellite program and unearth innovative applications and use cases for our future hyperspectral data.

Our EAP cohort is substantial, spanning across companies in agriculture, energy, mining, and defense, and has deepened Planet’s understanding of the market demand for hyperspectral data. The program is helping the company to further refine its product development process and speed the time-to-value of its data. Planet will continue working with its EAP partners to iterate on its designs and data pipeline to ensure a seamless integration of its upcoming hyperspectral data that will change the way users view and measure change on our planet.

To learn more about the instrument built by NASA JPL, and some of the other major achievements made across the Carbon Mapper Coalition to date, read the joint blog post written by Carbon Mapper and NASA JPL here.

About Planet Labs PBC

Planet is a leading provider of global, daily satellite imagery and geospatial solutions. Planet is driven by a mission to image the world every day, and make change visible, accessible and actionable. Founded in 2010 by three NASA scientists, Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest Earth observation fleet of imaging satellites. Planet provides mission-critical data, advanced insights, and software solutions to over 900 customers, comprising the world’s leading agriculture, forestry, intelligence, education and finance companies and government agencies, enabling users to simply and effectively derive unique value from satellite imagery. Planet is a public benefit corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange as PL. To learn more visit www.planet.com and follow us on Twitter.

Forward-looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, the Company’s ability to successfully design, build, launch and deploy, operate and market new products and satellites and the Company’s ability to realize any of the potential benefits from product and satellite launches, either as designed, within the expected time frame, in a cost-effective manner, or at all. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s management’s beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to them. Because such statements are based on expectations as to future events and results and are not statements of fact, actual results may differ materially from those projected. Factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to: the Company’s ability to obtain and maintain required licenses and approvals from regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a timely fashion, or at all; whether the Company will be able to successfully build, launch and deploy or operate its satellites, including new satellites either as designed, in a timely fashion or at all; the Company’s ability to develop and release product and service enhancements to respond to rapid technological change, or to develop new designs and technologies for its satellites, in a timely and cost-effective manner; whether the Company will be able to continue to invest in scaling its sales organization, expanding its software engineering (including its ability to integrate new satellite capabilities) and marketing capabilities; whether the Company will be able to accurately predict and capture market opportunity; whether current customers or prospective customers adopt the Company’s platform or new products; the Company’s ability realize any of the potential benefits from new products and satellites, as well as strategic partnerships and customer collaborations; and the risk factors and other disclosures about the Company and its business included in the Company's periodic reports, proxy statements, and other disclosure materials filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which are available online at www.sec.gov, and on the Company's website at www.planet.com. All forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s beliefs and assumptions only as of the date such statements are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Contacts