Planet Labs PBC, a global leader in daily Earth data and insights, announced today that two of its latest high-resolution Pelican satellites, Pelican-5 and Pelican-6, along with 36 SuperDoves from Flock 4H, have successfully arrived at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The satellites are now preparing for integration and launch aboard the upcoming SpaceX Transporter-15 rideshare mission.
This shipment marks another milestone in it’s mission to provide governments, businesses, and organizations worldwide with near real-time data about our changing planet. By expanding both its Pelican high-resolution constellation and its PlanetScope SuperDove fleet, It continues to strengthen its leadership in Earth observation and data intelligence.
Meeting Rising Demand for High-Resolution Earth Data
“We’re continuing to see incredible demand for our high-resolution data, which is fueling the growth of these constellations and driving our recent decision to expand manufacturing in Germany,” said Will Marshall, Co-Founder and CEO of Planet. “With this latest shipment of Pelicans and SuperDoves, combined with our ramped-up production capabilities, we’re not just putting more satellites in orbit—we’re providing our customers with the consistent, timely information they need to deliver real-world results.”
Planet’s customer base spans defense and intelligence agencies, environmental organizations, agriculture, energy, and maritime sectors, all of which rely on the company’s satellites for insights that help track and respond to global change. The growing demand is also reflected in it’s ongoing commitment to scale manufacturing and launch multiple new spacecraft over the next 12 months.
Pelican: Redefining High-Resolution Imaging
The Pelican constellation represents Planet’s next-generation fleet of high-resolution satellites. Pelican-5 and Pelican-6 will be the newest additions to the first generation of Pelican spacecraft, joining Pelican-2, Pelican-3, and Pelican-4, which were successfully launched and commissioned earlier this year.
Each first-generation Pelican satellite is capable of capturing imagery at 50 cm resolution across six multispectral bands, providing rich detail that is optimized for cross-sensor analysis. To further enhance performance, every Pelican spacecraft carries the NVIDIA Jetson AI platform onboard, enabling on-orbit processing. This feature significantly reduces the time required to transform raw data into actionable insights, allowing customers to receive critical information faster than ever before.
Looking ahead, it plans to evolve the Pelican fleet to achieve:
- 30 cm resolution imagery for ultra-detailed observation.
- Reduced latency, cutting delivery times from hours to just minutes.
- Up to 30 revisits per day, depending on the size of the fully deployed constellation.
These advances will ensure Pelican becomes one of the most powerful commercial Earth observation constellations available, supporting urgent decision-making across industries.
Expanding Capacity and On-Demand Tasking
The addition of Pelican-5 and Pelican-6 will expand the capacity and responsiveness of it’s high-resolution tasking services. Customers will gain greater access to on-demand imagery, critical for sectors where conditions change quickly and decisions must be made in near real time.
From defense and intelligence applications to monitoring environmental changes, infrastructure, and supply chains, the Pelican fleet is designed to meet a diverse range of needs. With multiple further launches of Pelican satellites already planned over the next year, Planet is steadily moving toward building a high-cadence, low-latency constellation capable of global, high-resolution coverage.
Strengthening Global Monitoring with SuperDoves
In addition to the Pelican satellites, the Transporter-15 launch will carry 36 SuperDoves from Flock 4H, further reinforcing it’s flagship PlanetScope daily monitoring mission.
SuperDoves are Planet’s workhorse satellites, delivering daily, medium-resolution imagery of the entire Earth’s landmass. They provide unmatched coverage for global monitoring and are the foundation of PlanetScope, which has become indispensable for tracking environmental change, agriculture, urban growth, and disaster response.
The new Flock 4H SuperDoves will help expand coverage and improve revisit frequency, enabling to continue offering comprehensive, global insights at scale. Together with high-resolution Pelican tasking, SuperDoves allow customers to integrate broad coverage with fine detail, giving them the flexibility to monitor change from a global to a hyperlocal perspective.
Driving Impact Across Industries
With its combined fleet of Pelican high-resolution satellites and PlanetScope SuperDoves, Planet delivers a unique capability for multi-layered Earth observation. The company’s technology plays a crucial role in:
- Maritime Domain Awareness (MDA): Monitoring shipping lanes, fishing activity, and illegal maritime operations.
- Defense and Intelligence: Delivering critical intelligence with rapid revisit rates and high-resolution tasking.
- Agriculture: Enabling precision farming through crop health monitoring and yield forecasting.
- Climate and Environmental Monitoring: Tracking deforestation, wildfires, and natural disasters in near real time.
- Infrastructure and Energy: Monitoring assets such as pipelines, power grids, and urban development.
“By combining PlanetScope’s daily, global coverage with Pelican’s high-resolution tasking capabilities, Planet provides customers with a uniquely powerful toolset,” said Marshall. “This dual capability empowers organizations to detect change, analyze its implications, and act quickly—often within hours.”
Looking Forward
With Pelican-5, Pelican-6, and Flock 4H ready for launch, Planet continues to scale both its high-resolution tasking fleet and its daily monitoring constellation. Over the next twelve months, the company anticipates multiple additional launches to further grow the Pelican fleet and expand the capabilities of its global monitoring system.
As the company advances its manufacturing and launch cadence, Planet remains focused on its mission: to provide daily, global data that helps decision-makers see change, understand its impact, and take action.
Learn more about Planet’s Pelican and SuperDove constellations.
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 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 X (formerly Twitter) or tune in to HBO’s ‘Wild Wild Space’.
