Planet launches Pelican-11 tech demo satellite on Transporter-17

Planet Labs

Planet's Pelican-11 test satellite launched on Transporter-17, ahead of its Gen 2 imaging fleet.

what happened

Planet Labs launched Pelican-11, a technology-demonstration satellite for its second-generation (Gen 2) Pelican fleet, aboard SpaceX's Transporter-17 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base on July 7. Planet says Pelican-11 will validate new technologies ahead of Gen 2 satellites designed for up to 30 cm imagery, up from Gen 1's 50 cm, and is not expected to produce commercially available data. Planet says it plans to launch additional Pelican spacecraft over the next year.

why it matters

A non-revenue test satellite is a small story on its own, but the stated 30 cm Gen 2 target is a real resolution jump for Planet's high-resolution line, worth tracking for resellers comparing Planet against Airbus, Maxar/Vantor, and BlackSky at that resolution tier.

for who

EO resellers tracking high-resolution optical supply

signal-to-noise

5/5FIRST-PARTY

srcsource class: tier 5 on its owncorcorroboration: untested (no corroboration modifier applies)5base tier 5 from lead source class "first_party" (Planet Labs) investors.planet.comscorer v2 · how scores work

quick facts

Companies: Planet Labs
Category: launch
Impact: noise
SNR: 5 / 5
Event date: 2026-07-07
Published: 2026-07-07 12:20 UTC

#eo #optical

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