Posts By
Joseph Mascaro

Dr. Joe Mascaro is Planet's Director of Science Programs

On Earth Day, More Eyes on Our Planet

Stories

In 1969, a well blew out off the coast of Santa Barbara, California. Miles of beaches, filled with animal and human life covered in oily sludge, captivated public interest and galvanized the local community to take action. One year later, in part through the efforts of the Santa Barbara community, we celebrated […]

Introducing Planet Publications

News

In April, 2017, Planet launched its Education and Research Program, which enables scientists and researchers at universities to apply for non-commercial access to up to 10,000 km2 of data per month. In less than a year, more than 1,400 scientists and researchers across more than 70 countries have come onboard, leveraging Planet’s […]

Planet offers broader data access to the academic community

News

Through our Ambassador’s Program, Planet has granted data to about 150 researchers…and what they’ve developed has blown us away. But we think that there’s more to be discovered. Today, we’re thrilled to announce a new offering for researchers at accredited universities across the globe: Planet’s Education and Research Program. Now, any college […]

Rescuing Stranded River Dolphins With the Help of Satellites

Stories

Central Brazil’s Araguaia River flows over a thousand miles through rainforest, savannah and farmland. In dry season as the river’s water dwindles, endangered Araguaia River dolphins shimmy across sand banks to find pools of fish and deeper waters. Human-built irrigation dams can often block a dolphin’s path, trapping them in dwindling, shallow […]

Planet Observes Unprecedented Tree Die-off in California

News

Rich oranges, deep reds and bright yellows dot otherwise olive-colored forests. But the colors are not leaves of eastern hardwoods announcing the arrival of autumn. No, they’re the death throes of vast swaths of coniferous forests in the Sierra Nevada foothills. From Yosemite all the way to Bakersfield, as many as 66 […]

Illegal Gold Mine Encroaches into Protected Rainforest

Stories

From the beginning, Planet’s constellation of Dove satellites has been built around high-frequency imagery with the goal of near-real-time observation of change. Today, we saw one of the most striking examples of this value proposition. As part of Planet’s Ambassadors Program, analysts at the Amazon Conservation Association used high-frequency Planet imagery to […]

Meet Brice Ménard, Planet Labs Ambassador and Scientist-in-Residence

News

When Planet launched the Ambassador’s Program a few weeks ago, we expected applications from all manner of Earth scientists. And indeed, innovative ideas have been coming in from geologists, cryosphere experts, forest ecologists and others. But one application was, well, out of this world. Brice Ménard is a professor in the Department […]

A Call for Ambassadors

News

At Planet Labs, we’ve made it our mission to make global change visible, accessible, and actionable—but we can’t do it alone. That’s why today we’re announcing our Ambassadors program, which empowers researchers, scientists, and social impact practitioners with access to our unique dataset. To power their work over a six month period, […]

Mapping Water Scarcity with MetaMeta

Stories

In the attic of MetaMeta’s Netherlands office, the ceiling presses down on Frank van Steenbergen’s tall frame. “I wish I’d started MetaMeta ten years earlier,” he says, letting a broad smile settle onto his face. Frank, who bounces between Addis Ababa, Pakistan, Nairobi and the Netherlands on a monthly basis, almost never […]

An Unthinkable Impact

Stories

When I was a boy, my father gave me a copy of Hiroshima by John Hersey. He also gave me a pencil, and told me to make a mark in the margin when I found a passage of particular interest. When the bomb fell, and the white light flashed—repeating over and over […]