Planet Labs
Daily Earth intelligence scaling high-resolution Pelican production in the United States and Berlin
The product
Planet designs, builds, and operates Earth-observation satellites and delivers global imagery, derived data, analytics, APIs, and satellite services. Its fleet and roadmap include SuperDove daily monitoring, SkySat and Pelican high-resolution imaging, and Tanager hyperspectral spacecraft.
The thesis
Planet couples repeatable satellite manufacturing with a one-to-many data platform, giving governments and industrial users frequent, globally consistent evidence of physical change. Its growing defense and intelligence business and customer-owned satellite services also expand allied access to sovereign geospatial capability.
How it runs
Vertically integrated spacecraft design, manufacturing, launch procurement, constellation operations, data processing, and cloud delivery. Planet manufactures in the United States and opened a 5,700-square-meter Berlin facility on September 22, 2026, with Pelican production scheduled to begin in autumn. It sells shared data products at scale while also building and operating dedicated customer constellations through fixed-price, multi-year satellite-services agreements.
How it earns
Primarily fixed-price subscription and usage-based licenses for imagery and analytics, supplemented by satellite-services agreements, dedicated tasking, professional services, and limited third-party imagery. Planet reported 98% recurring annual contract value at July 31, 2026.
Why it wins
A large proprietary archive combined with daily global coverage, high-cadence in-house spacecraft development, multiple sensor types, and a cloud platform that can distribute the same data to many customers at low incremental cost.
Evidence ledger
- SEC filing · 2026-09-12
Planet's Q2 FY2027 Form 10-Q describes subscription imagery and analytics, customer-owned satellite services, vertical markets, $116.1 million quarterly revenue, and $814.9 million backlog.
https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1836833/000119312526382016/pl-20260731.htm - company press release distribution · 2026-09-12
Planet reported 98% recurring ACV, ten high-resolution Pelicans on orbit after the Pelican-11 demonstration launch, and shipment of Tanager-2 and SuperDoves for launch.
https://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/planet-reports-financial-results-second-quarter-fiscal-year-2027-2026-09-03 - company news archive · 2026-09-12
Planet's 2026 news archive documents NGA, Czech, Greek, Rwandan, Scottish, German, and European expansion activity.
https://investors.planet.com/news/default.aspx?LanguageId=1 - first-party · 2026-09-22
Planet won a German Interior Ministry satellite-services tender with options worth up to EUR25 million over five years, including dedicated tasking, mosaics, analytics, and a European-hosted platform for federal civil authorities.
https://investors.planet.com/news/news-details/2026/Planet-Awarded-Landmark-German-Federal-Contract-for-Exclusive-Access-to-Dedicated-Satellite-Constellation/default.aspx - first-party · 2026-09-22
Planet says its Berlin satellite-manufacturing facility is scheduled to open in fall 2026, bringing manufacturing to its European operations for the first time and adding Pelican production alongside its existing engineering, mission operations, data, and business teams.
https://www.planet.com/pulse/planet-s-next-chapter-in-germany-expanding-our-european-operations-with-satellite-manufacturing/ - authoritative-media · 2026-09-22
Deutsche Presse-Agentur reporting carried by Handelsblatt quotes Planet Labs Germany managing director Martin Polak saying full satellite manufacturing and testing will begin in Berlin in fall 2026, the first Berlin-built satellite is planned before year-end, and the facility can scale to 60 satellites per year.
https://www.handelsblatt.com/politik/deutschland/raumfahrt-planet-labs-startet-bald-satellitenproduktion-in-berlin/100256398.html - web · 2026-09-22
Planet opened the 5,700-square-meter Berlin facility and scheduled production of 300-kilogram-class, 30-centimeter-class Pelican satellites to begin in autumn 2026. Planet expects the first Berlin-built satellite before year-end and says the site can scale to 60 satellites per year. The first Berlin-built Pelicans are planned for launch on an Isar Aerospace Spectrum vehicle in early 2027.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260922048020/en/ - web · 2026-09-25
Pelican-12 arrived at Cape Canaveral ahead of the planned Bandwagon-5 SpaceX rideshare mission. The updated second-generation demonstrator targets up to 30-centimeter-class imagery, higher-rate intersatellite communications, and NVIDIA Jetson edge compute. Arrival at the launch site is a prelaunch milestone, not evidence of launch or commissioning.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260925502401/en/
Articles, news, and updates
No tagged mentions for Planet Labs yet.