PL

Planet Labs Pbc

A fleet of small Earth-imaging satellites that photographs the whole planet every day, Planet sells that imagery plus analytics and even builds custom satellites for governments and large businesses. Farmers, foresters, defense agencies, and energy firms all use its pictures. It was founded in 2010 by three former NASA scientists—originally under the name Cosmogia—who borrowed the fast, low-cost approach of consumer electronics, even asking whether a smartphone could work in space. Its daily snapshots come from shoebox-sized "Dove" satellites whose archive reaches back to 2009.