HEO taps Planet's SkySats to expand its space-object imaging network
HEO · Planet Labs
HEO and Planet Labs signed a deal letting HEO task idle SkySat satellites to photograph other objects in orbit.
what happened
HEO, an Australian company that images other spacecraft for space-domain-awareness customers, signed an agreement with Planet Labs on August 17 to add up to 15 of Planet's SkySat satellites to its non-Earth-imaging (NEI) sensor network, expanding the network past 50 in-space sensors, per Payload and SpaceNews. HEO will task SkySats for NEI work when they are not shooting Earth imagery; per SpaceNews, the resulting imagery is initially available only to HEO's U.S. government customers, with commercial access expected later pending licensing.
why it matters
More sensor diversity and orbital coverage lets HEO's government and commercial customers get faster, better-angled images of objects on orbit, from checking the health of a newly deployed satellite to characterizing another operator's spacecraft. For Planet, it opens a new revenue stream from existing SkySat capacity during idle tasking windows, and the deal could later expand to Planet's larger Pelican and Dove fleets.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- HEO, Planet Labs
- Category
- partnership
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-08-17
- Published
- 2026-08-18 05:29 UTC