Planet Labs Is Not Your Average Start-Up

With 100+ Small Satellites Flying, Planet Labs Is Not Your Average Start-Up

They don’t quite look like doves, although that’s what aerospace start-up Planet Labs has named their constellation of small satellites. For over a decade, the space industry has used the term “CubeSat” to refer to this type of square, solar-powered, toaster-sized satellite that orbits within 300-600 kilometers of Earth. But Will Marshall, the scientist who left NASA to found Planet Labs in 2010, named his specific brand of CubeSats “Doves,” because he planned on launching a whole flock.

Now over 100, Planet Labs’ flock of satellites is the largest in human history.

Fourteen new Doves reached space on August 19th, 2015, bringing the total to 101. These 14 will be

But geospatial imaging, Planet Labs’ specialty, is widely regarded as the other big player in satellite-based services, garnering investment from a wide array of companies and industries. And all this new excitement, both about space Internet and about geospatial imaging, is driven by the feasibility and affordability of small satellites. So even if Planet Labs is not your next internet provider, their position at the cutting edge of small satellite technology spells for them a future as industry

The mining industry would use it to track its progress and keep tabs on many different projects. The shipping industry would use it to watch fleets of ships or trucks move around the world. And all these and many other industries would use Planet Labs to more accurately predict the weather.

Planet Labs could bundle industry- or company-specific sets of data and analytics to be sold or subscribed to. However, if its data will all be open-access anyway, Planet Labs will have to make sure that it can offer to companies a product worth paying extra for—or it must restrain the publicity of its product. Otherwise, any company could just log on and find the information it needs.

This will become especially pressing as other geospatial imaging companies stiffen their competition. Google’s Skybox Imaging, a commercial upgrade of Google Earth, aims to offer businesses a similar product to Planet Labs’. BlackSky Global and Spire will also both offer geospatial imaging. But none of these has nearly as many satellites launched as Planet Labs, who remains well-positioned to become the first comprehensive, high quality geospatial imaging service in the