Planet Labs Germany GmbH, a leading provider of daily data and insights about Earth, announced that they have signed a multi-year contract with the European Space Agency (ESA). Through this contract, Planet joins the Copernicus Contributing Missions, officially contributing commercial satellite data alongside ESA’s Sentinel satellite data to the Copernicus services.
Through this contract, Planet’s near-daily PlanetScope satellite imagery and high-resolution SkySat imagery will serve as complementary data to ESA’s existing, robust data offerings, ensuring geospatial analysts can meet their broad range of data needs. This deal highlights how ESA has expanded its data portfolio with diverse, emerging commercial data provided by New Space companies.
“We have a long history of working with ESA, and we’re honored to continue to support the Copernicus Program as a Contributing Mission with our PlanetScope and SkySat constellations,” said Massimiliano Vitale, Planet Senior Vice President of Tasking Products. “Europe has demonstrated global leadership in Earth observation innovation, and we’re thrilled to see their continued investment in commercial space companies from the region.”
Prior to this contract, Planet worked in collaboration with ESA for a decade, contributing to both Copernicus and the ESA Third Party Mission program, supporting novel scientific research, and developing new commercial services through the ESA Earthnet Programme. Through this, researchers and innovative companies located in the territory of ESA and the European Commission Member States were able to leverage Planet’s PlanetScope, SkySat, and RapidEye imagery for a range of disciplines, including land use monitoring and climate change research.
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