Space

Space Earth Obs

Earth Observation Pure-Play Revenue

Planet Labs (fiscal year ends January) and BlackSky (calendar year). Planet FY2026 revenue was $308M. BlackSky 2025 revenue was $107M.

Earth Observation Backlog

Planet ended FY2026 with $900M of backlog (+79%). BlackSky ended 2025 with $345M (+32%). Definitions differ slightly.

Commercial Earth Observation Market

EUSPA via Space Foundation: data sales $772M in 2025, downstream products and services $3.6B. Combined about $4.3B.

Planet Labs Imaging Fleet

Dove / SuperDove daily coverage, SkySat tasking, Pelican next-generation high-resolution, and Tanager hyperspectral. Sweden funded a Pelican constellation in December 2025.

Class	Imaging	Role	Status
Dove / SuperDove	Medium-resolution optical, daily global land coverage (PlanetScope)	The archive. Thousands of images per point on land over the life of the program.	Operational. The bulk of the fleet.
SkySat	High-resolution optical tasking	Pointed, tasked collection for defense, mapping, and events.	Operational. Heritage high-resolution layer.
Pelican	Next-generation high-resolution optical (about 50 cm class, Gen-2 targeting 30 cm)	Sovereign-mission and premium tasking. Sweden Armed Forces constellation agreement (Dec 2025).	Deploying. Pelican-11 (Gen-2 tech demo) launched 2026.
Tanager	Hyperspectral	Material and emissions-style signatures, not just pictures.	Operational / ramping. Also listed on NASA CSDA as Planet hyperspectral.

Optical vs SAR

Optical cannot see through clouds or at night. Synthetic-aperture radar can. NASA CSDA now buys both, plus hyperspectral and thermal.

Mode	Weather	Operators	Strength
Optical (electro-optical)	Needs clear sky and daylight	Planet (PL), BlackSky (BKSY), Maxar / Vantor (private)	Familiar pictures. Color, vegetation, infrastructure. Planet's daily global archive is the unique dataset.
Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR)	All-weather, day and night	ICEYE (private), Capella (private), Umbra (private). Airbus SAR on NASA CSDA.	Flood, sea ice, deformation, ships through weather. Complements optical for defense and disaster.
Hyperspectral / thermal	Mostly optical-class constraints	Planet Tanager, GHGSat, Orbital Sidekick, Hydrosat, OroraTech (NASA CSDA On-Ramp 2)	Materials, heat, methane. New CSDA on-ramp is where NASA is buying this layer.

Next-Generation Commercial Imagers

BlackSky Gen-3 (35 cm plus SWIR), Planet Pelican and Tanager, and Vantor (formerly Maxar) very-high-resolution optical.

Sensor	Operator	Resolution	Status
BlackSky Gen-3	BlackSkyBKSY	35 cm optical, 1.2 m SWIR	In commercial operations. Third successful Gen-3 deployment; more launches scheduled in 2026.
Planet Pelican	Planet LabsPL	About 50 cm class (Gen-2 targeting 30 cm)	Deploying. Sweden Armed Forces constellation agreement (Dec 2025). Pelican-11 tech demo on orbit.
Planet Tanager	Planet LabsPL	Hyperspectral (not a panchromatic number)	Operational / ramping. Listed on NASA CSDA.
Vantor (Maxar) Legion / archive	Vantor (private)	About 30 cm class optical in CSDA products	Private (Advent). Still the very-high-resolution commercial optical benchmark NASA cites.

BlackSky Gen-2 vs Gen-3

From the FY2025 10-K. Gen-3 is the 35 cm layer management says is converting pilots into multi-year subscriptions. Exact on-orbit headcount is not a stable public census.

Item	Gen-2	Gen-3
Imaging	High-revisit optical	35 cm electro-optical plus 1.2 m SWIR
Role	Heritage monitoring constellation	Very-high-resolution tasking and AI analytics feed
2025 commercial signal	Still flying	Third successful deployment. Images within 24 hours of launch.
2026 plan	Continue to operate	Additional dedicated launches. International defense Gen-3 satellite-plus-services contract.
Economic tell	Supports the subscription book	Management's stated conversion of pilots into multi-year subscriptions

NASA CSDA Commercial Data Vendors

On-Ramp 2 (June 2026): IDIQ with a $476M maximum through November 2028. Planet Labs Federal is on the vehicle. Eight new vendors plus added products from six existing holders.

Vendor	Sensor	Status
Planet Labs Federal	Optical MSI / hyperspectral	Existing holder, new products
ICEYE US	SAR	Existing holder, new products
Airbus DS Geo	Optical MSI / SAR	Existing holder, new products
GHGSat	Greenhouse-gas emissions	Existing holder, new products
PlanetiQ	GNSS radio occultation	Existing holder, new products
Tomorrow.io	Microwave sounder	Existing holder, new products
Hydrosat	Thermal infrared / VNIR	On-Ramp 2 new
OroraTech	MWIR / LWIR thermal	On-Ramp 2 new
ImageSat	Optical MSI	On-Ramp 2 new
SATLANTIS US	Optical MSI / GHG	On-Ramp 2 new
Kuva Space	Hyperspectral VNIR / SWIR	On-Ramp 2 new
Wyvern	Hyperspectral VNIR	On-Ramp 2 new
Orbital Sidekick	Hyperspectral VNIR / SWIR	On-Ramp 2 new
Muon Space	GNSS reflectometry	On-Ramp 2 new

Earth Observation Operators

The main commercial earth-observation operators by imaging type: optical (limited by clouds and darkness) versus all-weather synthetic-aperture radar (SAR).

Operator	Fleet	Imaging	Focus	Ownership
Planet LabsPL	200+ satellites	Optical (Dove, SuperDove, SkySat, Pelican) plus Tanager hyperspectral	Daily global coverage and the largest EO fleet. Government, mapping, agriculture.	Public
BlackSkyBKSY	~16 to 20 (Gen-2, Gen-3)	High-revisit optical	Real-time monitoring and AI analytics for defense and intelligence.	Public
Maxar / Vantor	WorldView Legion plus legacy fleet	Very high-resolution optical	The highest-resolution commercial optical imagery, with a US government anchor.	Private (Advent)
SatellogicSATL	~30+ satellites	High-resolution optical and hyperspectral	Low-cost, high-frequency imaging at scale.	Public
ICEYE	~40 satellites	Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR)	The largest SAR constellation. All-weather, day-and-night imaging.	Private
Capella Space	SAR constellation	Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR)	High-resolution radar imaging for defense and commercial use.	Private

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