Planet Labs (PL) has confirmed shipment of two additional high-resolution satellites: Pelican-3 and Pelican-4, to Vandenberg Space Force Base in preparation for launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9. This milestone marks a new phase in the expansion of Planet’s next-generation Pelican satellite fleet, as the company announced its production line is now fully operational with multiple Pelican and Tanager spacecraft in active development.
With over 650 Earth observation satellites launched to date, Planet is scaling rapidly to meet growing demand for high-frequency, high-resolution Earth imagery. The new Pelican satellites are engineered to provide up to 40 cm-class resolution across six multispectral bands, optimized for cross-sensor data analysis. Equipped with NVIDIA Jetson GPUs, the satellites are capable of edge-based AI processing, enabling faster, more autonomous image analysis from orbit.
Pelican-3 and Pelican-4 are part of a broader series of launches planned through the remainder of the year. The second-generation Pelican satellites, scheduled to begin launching in 2026, are expected to enhance imaging performance even further, achieving 30 cm resolution.
These next-gen satellites expand the company’s ability to deliver near real-time imagery to customers in defense, government, and commercial sectors. The Pelican fleet is designed to interoperate with Planet’s existing spacecraft, reinforcing its constellation’s capacity to deliver dynamic Earth observation with rapid revisit times.
This latest deployment follows recent announcements of satellite service partnerships in Asia and Europe and demonstrates Planet’s focus on delivering faster, AI-ready geospatial intelligence.
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