Planet teams with SpaceX to expand its Earth-observation constellation

The California-based satellite company Planet is nearing its 10th anniversary, and over that time, it has launched about 300 small satellites, mostly CubeSats nicknamed “Doves.” The company’s goal is in its name: image the planet daily for commercial and government customers while monitoring changing trends.

As time has gone on, customers have begun to ask for higher-resolution imagery. So in recent years, Planet acquired a small fleet of larger satellites known as SkySats, capable of taking pictures with a resolution of less than a meter. Fifteen SkySats are currently in space, and the company hopes to add six more over this summer.

SkySats offer a resolution of about 80cm, which is pretty good for commercially available imagery. However, some customers wanted even clearer images—particularly mapping companies trying to identify markers on the road and other features for autonomous driving technology.

“We heard the demand and were thinking of ways that we could approach that need,” said Jim Thomason, vice president of imagery product at Planet. “We found that the easiest and quickest way was to use assets in space.”

Planet’s solution involved lowering its existing fleet of SkySats by 50km, from an altitude of 500km to 450km. After six months, the company has now lowered its constellation and increased the spatial resolution of its images to 50cm. Whereas vehicles on roadways were previously indistinct, the higher-resolution images make it possible to determine whether an automobile is a car or a truck.

Moving these satellites cost fuel—SkySats use a High Performance Green Propulsion system—and put them at an altitude above the Earth slightly more susceptible to the effects of atmospheric drag. However, Planet believes it will be able to maintain the satellites in their new orbit for six or more years, which was their original design lifetime.

Finding a low-cost ride

Planet is also seeking to add six additional SkySats to its constellation on a pair of Falcon 9 launches in the coming weeks. Three of the satellites, each of which weighs 110kg and is about the size of a dishwasher, will go on a SpaceX Starlink launch in the coming weeks. Three more will follow on another Starlink launch. With these additional SkySats, Planet will be able to image some locations on the globe as much as a dozen times per day.

SpaceX has worked with Planet to devise a means of attaching the Planet satellites on top of its stack of 60 Starlink satellites. These rideshare missions came together quickly, as Planet and SpaceX only signed an agreement about six months ago. “This is the result of SpaceX dramatically cutting the cost of access to launch,” said Mike Safyan, vice president of launch at Planet. “It’s significant. They cut the price so much we could not believe what we were looking at.”

With this rideshare deal, SpaceX has continued to push its Falcon 9 rocket into the marketplace for launching small satellites. Companies with small rockets that can dedicate a launch to a single satellite, such as Rocket Lab, tout their ability to deliver a small satellite into precise orbit. But to companies like Planet, price matters.

For the Falcon 9 launch, the SkySats will have to use their onboard propulsion system to raise the satellites from their drop-off point to their final orbit of 450km. In this case, Safyan said, the trade is more than worth it.

“You typically end up with lower pricing on rideshare anyway,” Safyan said. “With SpaceX being the lowest price option out there, they are the first port of call for us. There are lots of paths to orbit. We continue to engage with other launch providers, but we are always looking for the lowest cost and most reliable path to orbit.”

Listing image by Planet