Planet Releases First Light from Latest Pelican Launch, Including Imagery from Sweden’s First Sovereign Satellite

Planet Releases First Light from Latest Pelican Launch, Including Imagery from Sweden’s First Sovereign Satellite

SAN FRANCISCO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL), a leading provider of daily data and insights about change on Earth, today released first light images from its latest Pelican launch, including the Swedish Armed Forces (SwAF)’s first ever sovereign satellite. Planet launched these three Pelican spacecraft to orbit aboard the CAS500-2 rideshare mission with SpaceX from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on May 3, 2026.

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Ambursu, Nigeria • May 11, 2026 • Altitude: 510 km • Pelican

Planet received high-resolution first light imagery from the Pelican satellites within days of their May 3 launch. Each satellite captured imagery from around the world, including Gotland, Sweden, on May 7, 2026, from an altitude of 515 km; Taiyuan, in Shanxi, China, on May 5, 2026, from an altitude of 512 km; and Ambursu, Nigeria, on May 11, 2026, from an altitude of 510 km. As the spacecraft complete the instrument calibration process and reach their final operational orbits, image quality is expected to further improve.

“Launching three more Pelicans gives us more capacity and a higher revisit rate for our customers. We’re pleased to be launching these at pace, and it’s always exciting to see first light imagery so swiftly after launch!” said Will Marshall, Co-Founder and CEO of Planet Labs. “Just months after announcing our agreement with Sweden in January, we completed manufacturing, launched, and rapidly brought the country’s very first satellite online. As we continue to scale the Pelican constellation, we’re showing how Planet can move quickly to help our partners around the world achieve sovereign, AI-enabled space capabilities.”

“Launching Sweden’s first satellite is a major milestone, and we’re grateful to Planet for helping extend the Swedish Armed Forces’ capabilities into the space domain,” said Anders Sundeman, Rear Admiral and Head of Space at the Swedish Armed Forces. “Sweden will now have its own sovereign means of identifying and analyzing threats globally – far ahead of our initial 2030 goal. We have a great cooperation with Planet on this critical work and look forward to more launches to come.”

With this most recent launch, there are now nine AI-enabled, high resolution Pelican satellites on orbit. This first generation of Pelican satellites are built to capture 50 cm class resolution imagery across six multispectral bands, which are optimized for seamless cross-sensor analysis. Planet plans to launch additional Pelican satellites in 2026.

More information about Pelican capabilities can be found here.

About Planet Labs PBC

Planet is a leading provider of global, daily satellite imagery and geospatial solutions. Planet is driven by a mission to image the world every day, and make change visible, accessible and actionable. Founded in 2010 by three NASA scientists, Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest Earth observation fleet of imaging satellites. Planet provides mission-critical data, advanced insights, and software solutions to customers comprising the world’s leading agriculture, forestry, intelligence, education and finance companies and government agencies, enabling users to simply and effectively derive unique value from satellite imagery. Planet is a public benefit corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange as PL. To learn more visit www.planet.com and follow us on X, LinkedIn, or tune in to HBO’s ‘Wild Wild Space’.

Forward-looking Statements

Certain statements contained in this press release are “forward-looking statements” about Planet within the meaning of the securities laws, including statements about the expansion of the high resolution capacity of Planet’s fleet, the delivery of such capacity to Planet customers, and the Company’s ability to realize any of the potential benefits from product and satellite launches, either as designed, within the expected time frame, in a cost-effective manner, or at all. Such statements, which are not of historical fact, involve estimates, assumptions, judgments and uncertainties. There are a number of factors that could cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those addressed in the forward-looking statements, including risks related to the macroeconomic environment. Such factors are detailed in Planet’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Planet does not undertake an obligation to update its forward-looking statements to reflect future events, except as required by applicable law.