Planet Launches High-Resolution Pelican-5, Pelican-6 Satellites and 36 SuperDoves

Planet Labs announced the successful launch of its AI-enabled, high-resolution Pelican-5 and Pelican-6 satellites, along with 36 SuperDoves of Flock 4H. Planet’s satellites were launched to orbit on the Transporter-15 rideshare mission with SpaceX from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. Planet has begun the commissioning process for Pelican-5 and Pelican-6 after successfully making contact.

Pelican-5 and Pelican-6 are the latest additions to Planet’s fleet of next-generation tasking satellites, joining Pelicans 1 through 4. The 36 SuperDoves join Planet’s existing monitoring fleet, supporting Planet’s flagship daily, global PlanetScope mission. Planet plans to launch additional Pelicans and SuperDoves next year.

The launch of Pelican-5 and Pelican-6 marks the latest expansion of Planet’s Gen 1 Pelican satellite fleet. These new satellites are designed to capture 40 cm class resolution imagery across six multispectral bands, which are optimized for seamless cross-sensor analysis. After completing commissioning, they will join the existing Gen 1 Pelicans in supporting the ongoing delivery of Planet's 50 cm products.

Pelicans 5 and 6 feature NVIDIA’s Jetson AI platform onboard to facilitate edge computing, enabling the delivery of rapid insights directly to customers. Looking ahead, Planet plans to launch its next generation of Pelican satellites in 2026 that will be designed to achieve up to 30 cm-class resolution.