Planet captures first light from Pelican-3 satellite as constellation expands
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Sep 29, 2025

Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL) has released the first light image from its Pelican-3 satellite, capturing Turin, Italy on September 5 from an altitude of 458 km. The spacecraft, launched on August 26 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 NAOS mission with Pelican-4, is currently undergoing instrument calibration before entering full operations.

CEO Will Marshall said the rapid imaging highlights the Pelican constellation's agility. "Our Pelican satellites offer state-of-the-art capabilities, from high resolution to rapid revisits to AI processing at the edge, driven by the NVIDIA Jetson platform on board," he noted. He added that with the Pelican production line fully ramped, the company is building and deploying satellites faster than ever.

The Pelican fleet now includes Pelican-1, a technology demonstrator launched in 2023, Pelican-2, and the newly launched Pelican-3 and Pelican-4. Together, they provide high-resolution, six-band multispectral imagery, with the current generation capable of 40 cm class resolution. Future Pelicans, scheduled to launch starting next year, are expected to achieve 30 cm resolution.

Brian Lewis, Mission Director for Pelican, said, "Capturing first light images this quickly is a tremendous achievement for the Pelican team, and demonstrates the progress we've made in reducing our time to making our spacecraft operational." He emphasized that the growing constellation strengthens Planet's ability to deliver critical imagery to customers at the pace of global change.

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