Credit: Planet labs

SAN FRANCISCO - (BUSINESS WIRE) - Planet Labs PBC (NYSE: PL), a leading provider of daily data and insights about Earth, today announced its fully owned subsidiary, Planet Labs Federal Inc., was awarded a seven-figure contract by the Naval Information Warfare Center (NIWC) Pacific for vessel detection and monitoring over key areas of interest throughout the Pacific. The project will integrate both Planet’s daily, global PlanetScope data and high-resolution SkySat data into the Department of Transportation’s SeaVision platform, a web-based maritime situational awareness tool. The contract includes fusion of technology from SynMax, a longtime Planet partner, who will provide vessel detection using their analytics technology over Planet data.

Planet’s daily, global coverage, powered by its flagship PlanetScope constellation, is uniquely suited for broad area management, and will provide the SeaVision platform with a comprehensive and timely view of millions of square kilometers of ocean areas. In addition to this sweeping coverage, NIWC Pacific will also have access to Planet’s high-resolution SkySat data which can be used to capture finer detail. Further, SynMax has applied a subset of its Theia technology to meet the unique requirements of the NIWC Pacific project. This proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) enhancement enables the detection of maritime events at strategic and tactical levels, crucial for revealing illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, illicit ship-to-ship transfers, and vessel spoofing. This work showcases the synergy between Planet's satellite capabilities and SynMax's advanced analytics.

Integrating electro-optical imagery-derived vessel detections and high-resolution tasked imagery into the SeaVision platform will allow users to improve maritime domain awareness throughout the region. The unclassified data can be used to help validate alternative datasets, including Automatic Identification System (AIS) positions, and makes it easily shareable with SeaVision users, promoting a common understanding of key areas in the Pacific.

“NIWC Pacific continually pushes the bounds of innovating and advancing unmatched and disruptive technology in support of their operations,” said Jon Powers, Planet Federal’s General Manager. “Planet possesses a unique broad area imagery collection of land and ocean areas in the Indo-Pacific, so it's exciting for us to contribute that unique capability to provide maritime insights in support of the SeaVision mission.” Planet Federal is pleased to equip US Federal Civilian Agencies, the Department of Defense, and Intelligence Community with real-time satellite data and analytics required to monitor and respond to global changes and looks forward to this important collaboration with NIWC Pacific.

About Planet

Planet is a 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. Planet provides mission-critical data, advanced insights, and software solutions to over 950 customers, comprising 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 is a public benefit corporation listed on the New York Stock Exchange as PL.

Source: Planet Labs

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Kris Christiaens

This article was published by FutureSpaceFlight founder and chief editor Kris Christiaens. Kris Christiaens has been passionate and fascinated by spaceflight and space exploration all his life and has written hundreds of articles on space projects, the commercial space industry and space missions over the past 20 years for magazines, books and websites. In late 2021, he founded the website FutureSpaceFlight with the goal of promoting new space companies and commercial space projects and compiling news of these start-ups and companies on one website.