Planet Labs PBC

Planet Labs PBC is a publicly traded American Earth imaging company headquartered in San Francisco, California. Founded by three former NASA scientists in 2010, its core business revolves around designing, building, and operating the world's largest fleet of Earth observation satellites. The company's mission is to accelerate humanity toward a more sustainable, secure, and prosperous world by imaging the Earth daily and making environmental and social change visible, accessible, and actionable.

Planet offers a comprehensive suite of products and services, including satellite-based Earth imaging and analytics. Its constellations, such as the "Dove" (PlanetScope), "SkySat," and the newer "Pelican" and "Tanager" satellites, provide daily imagery at various resolutions, from 3-5 meters to 50 centimeters. These offerings include subscription services for imagery, targeted tasking for high-resolution captures, and an Earth Observation platform that enables customers to access, analyze, and act on data through APIs and browser-based applications. Planet serves diverse market segments, including agriculture, mapping, energy, forestry, finance, insurance, and government agencies, particularly in defense and intelligence.

Led by Co-Founder and CEO Will Marshall, Planet Labs PBC has recently demonstrated significant financial and operational progress. The company reported strong fourth-quarter and full fiscal year 2026 results, achieving profitability on an annual EBITDA and free cash flow basis. Recent initiatives include plans to develop a specialized Tanager spacecraft for methane and trace gas detection in collaboration with Carbon Mapper and JPL, with a potential launch by 2028. Planet is also expanding its European presence with a new Berlin manufacturing facility and partnering with NVIDIA to build a GPU-Native AI Engine for Planetary Intelligence, underscoring its strategic shift towards providing AI-enabled solutions and higher-value data services.

Latest updates

Planet to Build Specialized Satellite for Methane Detection with Carbon Mapper

Event summary

  • Planet will design a specialized version of its Tanager spacecraft focused solely on shortwave infrared (SWIR) light for enhanced methane and trace gas detection.
  • The new SWIR-only Tanager will increase area coverage to 100km with 30-meter resolution, leveraging Carbon Mapper’s AEMIS technology and JPL expertise.
  • The specialized satellite is slated for launch as early as 2028 and will be a core component of Carbon Mapper’s tiered observing system.
  • Planet plans to deploy at least three original design Tanagers and one SWIR Tanager to increase data frequency.

The big picture

Planet's collaboration with Carbon Mapper and JPL represents a strategic shift towards specialized satellite architectures, moving beyond broad-spectrum environmental insights to address specific, high-value applications like methane emissions monitoring. This targeted approach allows Planet to deepen its relationships with key customers and potentially command premium pricing for specialized data products. The partnership also underscores the growing importance of space-based methane monitoring in the context of climate change regulations and corporate sustainability initiatives.

What we're watching

Execution Risk
The 2028 launch timeline is ambitious, and delays in satellite design, manufacturing, or launch could impact Carbon Mapper’s observing system and Planet’s revenue projections.
Commercial Adoption
The success of the SWIR-only Tanager will depend on the ability of Planet and Carbon Mapper to secure commercial contracts leveraging the enhanced methane detection capabilities, particularly in mineral exploration and fire fuel monitoring.
Competitive Landscape
Increased sensitivity in methane detection will likely intensify competition among geospatial data providers, potentially requiring Planet to demonstrate a clear value proposition and pricing strategy to maintain market share.
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