Planet says new Berlin satellite factory will double its Pelican production
Planet says a new Berlin manufacturing facility opening this fall will double its capacity to build Pelican satellites.
what happened
Planet said it will move its European headquarters into a new Berlin facility opening this fall 2026 that unifies satellite manufacturing, engineering, mission operations, data processing and AI analytics, doubling its overall production capacity for the Pelican fleet. The company said it already employs over 150 people in Berlin and plans to add around 70 more roles through 2027; its German operations date to the 2015 acquisition of RapidEye.
why it matters
Manufacturing satellites on German soil, rather than just operating them from there, lets Planet sell into government and defense customers that require sovereign, EU-built hardware, reinforcing the same logic behind Germany's new BKG tasking contract with Planet and Rocket Lab's and ICEYE's own sovereign-manufacturing subsidiaries elsewhere in Europe.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- Planet Labs
- Category
- product
- Impact
- notable
- SNR
- 5 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-09-17
- Published
- 2026-09-17 17:30 UTC