Planet Releases First Light Image From Pelican-3; Multiple Pelican Launches Slated for the Next Year

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL), a leading provider of daily data and insights about change on Earth, today released first light images from its Pelican-3 satellite of Turin, Italy. It was taken on September 5, 2025, from an altitude of 458 km. Image quality is expected to improve as the spacecraft complete the instrument calibration process and reach their final operational orbits. Pelican-3 and Pelican-4 launched on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 NAOS mission on August 26, 2025.

“We’re thrilled to be sharing our Pelican-3 first light imagery, captured just days after these satellites were launched. These spacecraft are already demonstrating and reinforcing the incredible agility of the expanding Pelican constellation,” said Will Marshall, Co-Founder and CEO of Planet. “Our Pelican satellites offer state-of-the-art capabilities, from high resolution to rapid revisits to AI processing at the edge, driven by the NVIDIA Jetson platform on board. With a fully ramped Pelican production line, we’re building and launching Pelicans at our fastest pace yet.”

Pelican-3 and Pelican-4 join Pelican-2 and Pelican-1 (a smallsat platform tech demonstration launched in 2023) as part of Planet’s growing next-generation, high resolution constellation. This first generation of Pelican satellites provide high resolution imagery across 6 multispectral bands that are optimized for cross-sensor analysis. These Pelicans are designed to provide up to 40 cm class resolution imagery and have NVIDIA Jetson AI chips on board for on-orbit computing at the edge. Planet expects its next generation of Pelican satellites, launching beginning next year, to reach 30 cm imagery.

“Capturing first light images this quickly is a tremendous achievement for the Pelican team, and demonstrates the progress we’ve made in reducing our time to making our spacecraft operational,” said Brian Lewis, Mission Director, Pelican. “Our growing Pelican fleet scales up our ability to rapidly provide customers with the critical imagery they need to make informed decisions at the pace of global change.”

More information about Pelican capabilities can be found 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 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’.

Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release are “forward-looking statements” about Planet within the meaning of the securities laws, including statements about the expansion of the high resolution capacity of Planet’s fleet, the delivery of such capacity to Planet customers, 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. Such statements, which are not of historical fact, involve estimates, assumptions, judgments and uncertainties. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those addressed in the forward-looking statements. Such factors are detailed in Planet’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Planet does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events, except as required by applicable law.