Four Years Down, Many More to Go: Happy Anniversary, Terra Bella!
Oblique view of California State Route 1 in Big Sur, California. © 2021, Planet Labs Inc. All Rights Reserved.
StoriesFour years ago on April 14, 2017, Planet officially acquired Terra Bella from Google and integrated their stellar team and high-resolution SkySat constellation into our team and business. The agreement between Planet and Google was more than just an acquisition, it was a partnership that included a significant investment in Planet by Google by way of a strategic data deal, where Planet agreed to provide SkySat images back to Google. What a ride it has been since then! At the time of the close, Terra Bella had seven SkySats in-orbit, capturing sub-meter data. After a total of eight launches, there are now 21 SkySats in operation, providing unmatched revisit capabilities across the globe. Today, we’re sharing some highlights to celebrate our anniversary, and the incredible work this team has done over the past four years. Since the first launch in 2013 all 21 SkySats combined have:
- Orbited the Earth 367,669 times
- Traveled 10,017,644,156 (!!!!) miles
- Spent 2,451,167.11 days on orbit
Just this past year, our SkySat Mission Operations Team completed:
- 426,000 images
- 392 high-resolution videos
- Two rocket launches with SpaceX that sent six new SkySats to space
- An altitude lowering campaign to enhance the spatial resolution of our SkySat imagery from 80 cm to 50 cm for our ortho product.
And who doesn’t love to look at stunning satellite imagery? Here are a few captures that have stood out to us over the years: [caption id="attachment_146416" align="aligncenter" width="1920"]
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