On Feb. 14, an Indian PSLV rocket will attempt to set a record by deploying 103 small satellites in a single launch, including 88 satellites owned by Planet. With a successful launch, the San Francisco-based imaging startup will operate a total of 143 satellites—the most of any company in the world.
If all goes according to plan, Planet expects to be able to image the entire Earth daily; right now it covers about a third of the world’s landmass every 24 hours. Planet’s satellites fly north to south in a polar orbit as the earth rotates beneath them, acting like a “line scanner” for the ground below:
The company’s decision to fly its satellites from India speaks to the log-jam of companies eager to get into space.
