Planet Labs PBC (PL) democratizes satellite

Data use.

This is NOT investing advice. I don’t own PL.
I do own PLTR, which has its own source of satellite data via Blacksky.
Do your own DD and all that.

Satellite imagery is undergoing massive growth.

We’ve all heard, since the 1960s, how satellites are gonna change the world. Satellite imagery has long been the purview of governments, and especially “military”.

Satellites were expensive to build, expensive to deploy, expensive to maintain… the data was expensive to manipulate and utilize. Again, tasks that were all performed by governments.
But that’s changing.

Satellite construction, deployment and data analysis are rapidly becoming democratized.

Planet Labs PBC (PL) is on the forefront.
A TEDX from 2014:
https://youtu.be/UHkEbemburs

Here’s their Yahoo Finance profile:
Planet Labs PBC designs, constructs, and launches constellations of satellites with the intent of providing high cadence geospatial data delivered to customers through an online platform worldwide. The company offers Open Geospatial Consortium, a cloud-native proprietary technology that performs critical processing and overall harmonizing of images for time series and data fusion and analysis; and space-based hardware and related software systems. It serves agriculture, mapping, forestry, and finance and insurance, as well as federal, state, and local government bodies. The company was incorporated in 2010 and is headquartered in San Francisco, California.
[Bolding by ralph.]
https://finance.yahoo.com/quote/PL/profile?p=PL

Here is my favorite video explaining Planet Labs.
Planet Overview
https://youtu.be/XDftStOPevM

PL went public via SPAC in late 2021. So, it is available for investing. AGAIN: This is NOT investment advice or a recommendation.

Here’s a pump video, from about Feb2022:
Here’s How You Digitize the Whole Planet | Planet Labs
https://youtu.be/GzzdW73tuCo

Here’s a CNN clip, today May 22 2022, in which a CNN contractor uses PL info to monitor the Ukraine war. (It’s a bit macabre? Be aware?)
Satellite image leads to horrifying conclusion
https://youtu.be/LOOnD5UNHS8

I do NOT own PL.
I own some PLTR, which with an investment in Blacksky and agreements with governmental entities, offers similar services.

I was slow to realize the “confluence of technologies that provided the Covid-19 tail winds”, and the massive investment gains of 2020.
I do NOT expect to find such massive gains… but, it seems to me that the democratization of satellite data is in the early stages… ie Lotta growth ahead.

:alien: :artificial_satellite:
ralph

SpaceX/Musk is launching satellites almost weekly, with its reusable rockets. SpaceX launches government and commercial satellites.
SpaceX and Starlink are currently private - not yet investable for retail investors.

Blue Origin /Bezos have reportedly floundered in their attempts to launch satellites.
No comment about “investable”.

The Chinese, India and a few other countries are launching their own government satellites.

John Deere (DE) has been offering sophisticated satellite assisted farming equipment for… a decade or so. Farmers are resisting, and the market for used, non complex equipment is booming. Or at least it was booming.
DE, a traditional “value” stock, is down 25% from $418, its April 2022 high, to $319 today.

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Interesting stuff, thanks!

Here’s their Yahoo Finance profile:
Planet Labs PBC designs, constructs, and launches constellations of satellites…

Yahoo played a bit loose with their wording there. Of course they don’t launch anything. Wikipedia’s wording clarifies:

The company designs and manufactures Triple-CubeSat miniature satellites called Doves that are then delivered into orbit as secondary payloads on other rocket launch missions.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planet_Labs

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