SAN FRANCISCO – In recent weeks, the power of Planet’s global, daily satellite imagery has been on display across a series of breaking stories in The Washington Post, The New York Times, and National Public Radio (NPR). The international news stories revealed significant developments on China’s missile and nuclear weapon programs that were identified using Planet’s scaled and innovative earth data platform.
Planet, a leading provider of daily data and insights about Earth, is driven by a mission to use space to help life on Earth, in part, by enabling a more transparent world. The company recently entered into a definitive merger agreement with dMY Technology Group, Inc. IV (NYSE:DMYQ), a special purpose acquisition company, to become a publicly-traded company.
In a Washington Post exclusive, experts at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies (MIIS) explained how their team used Planet’s continuous stream of satellite imagery to discover and monitor the construction of hundreds of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) silos across 700 square miles of remote desert around Yumen, a city in northwestern China. Just three weeks later, nuclear experts at the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) identified a second missile silo field in Eastern Xinjiang province, as reported in the New York Times. Together, using Planet’s data and imagery solutions, the two groups identified roughly 230 new silos, allowing for more transparency on this significant expansion of China’s missile infrastructure. At the same time these silo fields were being uncovered, a third group of experts from AllSource Analysis relied on Planet data to confirm construction on a possible new underground tunnel at Lop Nur, a remote Chinese nuclear test site.
These important discoveries could not have been made without the unique, always-on design of Planet’s Dove constellation. Jeffrey Lewis, an expert at MIIS, said, “It would have been impossible to detect and characterize [the Yumen silo field] without high-cadence, wide-area imagery of the kind provided by Planet’s Dove satellites.”
Planet’s unclassified and shareable data set continues to be highly valued by journalists and analysts alike, helping to shed light on important matters around the globe and providing insights that can support positive changes around the world.
“At Planet, we aim to empower journalists and think tanks worldwide, as part of our core mission of enabling greater global transparency. Our teams innovate to ensure Planet provides researchers and customers with high-resolution, continuous and complete views of the world, every day. We are proud that Planet continues to deliver results in unique and impactful ways,” said Will Marshall, Planet co-founder and CEO.
About Planet
Planet is the leading provider of global, daily satellite imagery and geospatial solutions. Planet is driven by a mission to image the world every day, and make change visible, accessible and actionable. Founded in 2010 by three NASA scientists, Planet designs, builds, and operates the largest Earth observation fleet of imaging satellites, capturing and compiling data from over 3 million images per day. Planet provides mission-critical data, advanced insights, and software solutions to over 600 customers, comprised of the world’s leading agriculture, forestry, intelligence, education and finance companies and government agencies, enabling users to simply and effectively derive unique value from satellite imagery. Planet recently entered into a definitive merger agreement with dMY Technology Group, Inc. IV (NYSE:DMYQ), a special purpose acquisition company, to become a publicly-traded company. To learn more visit www.planet.com and follow us on Twitter at @planet.
