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You are here: Home / News / Planet’s 1st Pelican tech demo sat plus 36 SuperDoves launch via SpaceX

Planet’s 1st Pelican tech demo sat plus 36 SuperDoves launch via SpaceX

November 12, 2023 by editorial

Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL) has announced that Pelican-1, the first tech demo satellite for the company’s nexgen, high-resolution Pelican fleet, along with 36 of its SuperDoves, Flock 4Q, were successfully launched to orbit on SpaceX’s Transporter-9 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday, November 11, 2023 — the Planet team has successfully made contact with each satellite and started its commissioning process.

The launch of Pelican-1 is a major milestone for Planet’s next-generation high-resolution mission. Over time, the Pelican constellation is expected to offer a more capable and cost-effective upgrade to the Company’s current high-resolution satellites, the SkySats. Pelican-1 is not expected to produce commercially available data; rather, the R&D satellite is tasked with collecting information and on-orbit learnings for integration into Planet’s future Pelican and Tanager designs, which share a common satellite bus.

Planet launches a number of SuperDoves each year in order to replenish its on-orbit medium resolution fleet with the latest technology and hardware. The 36 SuperDoves launched via the SpaceX Transporter-9 mission — Planet’s Flock 4Q — have started their automated commissioning process and are expected to begin collecting imagery in the coming days. Planet’s SuperDoves capture daily, 8-band data of Earth’s changing systems, allowing commercial users, researchers, and governments to gain unparalleled insight at regional and global scales.

The SpaceX Transporter-9 launch, photo courtesy of the company.

“Pelican-1 was designed and built entirely by the Planet team in our manufacturing lab in San Francisco, an incredible feat to accomplish in just a few short years. I am incredibly proud of the team’s dedication to this project and ready for the next phase of the mission – collecting instrumental learnings and feedback from Pelican-1 on-orbit. These learnings will be critical to both the Pelican and Tanager missions.” — James Mason, Planet’s Senior Vice President of Space Systems

View the Pelican video at this direct link…

Filed Under: News

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