From growing up in Kent, UK to working for NASA, what was it about your background that led to your passion for space and the idea for Planet around 12 years ago?
I’ve always been interested in space since I was a kid. I was photographing the moon just last night with my telescope. I grew up on a small farm with animals and felt a love for life on Earth, which set the course for my career. As I advanced in my astrophysics and space exploration studies, I shifted from exploring distant galaxies to focusing on how space can be used to help Earth. That’s when I decided to turn telescopes around, looking at our planet instead, of using space technology to address challenges here. Earth is the only planet we know that has life. While I believe we might find life elsewhere eventually, Earth remains not only significant but potentially cosmologically unique. This uniqueness means we have a tremendous responsibility to protect life here.
The biggest inspiration for us was that myself and my co-founders met at a UN conference on using space to help humanity. We were "space geeks," but our goal was to figure out how we could use space technology to aid the UN’s biggest goals. This gathering had a significant impact, not only on us but on a wider space community. Out of that conference emerged initiatives like Planet, Virgin Galactic led by George Whitesides, and other projects driven by a shared sense of purpose in using space technology to benefit life on Earth.
Planet has a fleet of around 200 active satellites. What kind of data and imagery is your fleet aiming to capture, and why?
We image the entire landmass of Earth daily, which no other system does. Unlike other systems that target specific areas, we perform what's called "infinite tasking" to capture everything. This is particularly useful for broad-area monitoring, such as agriculture, which covers about 30% of Earth's land. Our satellites can assess how crops are performing in every 3x3 meter box, indicating what crops need fertilizer, water, or other adjustments. This enables precision agriculture, improving yields, reducing fertilizer runoff, and supporting sustainability.
Our imagery is also crucial for disaster response, helping governments assess flood, fire, and earthquake damage rapidly. For example, during the Lahaina fire in Hawaii, our images enabled building-by-building damage assessments, assisting the Red Cross in targeting
rescue and relief efforts. In defense, our data is widely used to provide daily updates on various aspects of conflicts in places like Ukraine. Our recent partnership with NATO means they use our imagery to maintain a common operating picture across allies.
To what extent is Planet interpreting the images and data as opposed to simply supplying it?
It depends. We provide some analytics ourselves, like assessing crop health for farmers or monitoring disaster damage, but for news media, we maintain neutrality and let journalists and think tanks interpret our imagery. We aim to remain an impartial source of information. However, we do leverage AI to perform certain tasks, such as detecting road construction in the Amazon, which helps the Brazilian Federal Police combat illegal deforestation, mining, and narcotics activity. This has led to 3,000 interventions in one year and amounted to the collection of nearly $3 billion from fines, seized goods, and frozen assets related to illegal logging and mining.
Where do you see as an area with a lot of potential to capture data, but that you have not yet fully capitalised on?
The potential of our data is vast, and we've only scratched the surface. Many potential users aren't even aware of our capabilities or how to use satellite imagery. There’s an awareness barrier, and we're working on building tools to make it more accessible. For example, in sustainable agriculture, we have tools that monitor crop practices to inform better farming techniques. However, adoption has been low so far, and I’d love to see more uptake in this sector.
It's a new concept, and many farmers are still tied to traditional methods, incentivized by outdated policies and insurance schemes. It takes time for society and industries to adapt to new technologies. A good example of a change at a policy or governmental level that helps incentivize this is the EU Green Deal. It offers subsidies for sustainable practices. Governments can incentivize better farming methods by paying per hectare or acre for implementing sustainable practices, making these techniques more widely adopted.
Space in 2024 can be a little like the Wild West. What is the main complication you have encountered when it comes to the logistics of operating in space?
Space is unique because when two objects collide, the debris doesn't stay localized. Instead, it splinters into thousands of pieces, creating a long-term hazard in orbit. This means collisions have a much more enduring impact than on land, sea, or air. Therefore, we need better space traffic management to avoid creating more debris. Planet is proactive about this, sharing our satellite locations and ensuring they deorbit faster than regulations require, aiming to be responsible stewards of the space environment.
We need preemptive regulations, especially around space traffic management and ownership of celestial bodies. There’s already talk about companies wanting to claim parts of the Moon, and we need fair governance to prevent monopolies and ensure shared access. We've refused customers when there was a risk that our satellite data might be used to target civilians. We have a process that involves checking against international sanction lists and an ethics committee to review each case.
Planet has been exploiting AI quite aggressively, and senior executives at Planet have called for a different approach. What does getting caught up in the AI hype look like?
The hype often involves creating flashy AI apps without practical value. At Planet, we use AI pragmatically to make our imagery more accessible. AI helps interpret the data we collect, allowing more people to understand and use it effectively. However, it's important to note that AI without data is useless. We emphasize data quality and see AI as a tool to make that data more valuable.
The most significant impact of our data in terms of benefit to humanity is in sustainability. We're soon launching our planetary variable on carbon, allowing us to measure how much carbon is stored in every tree on the planet. This data can underpin carbon markets, helping businesses and governments transition to a more sustainable economy. Satellite data like ours is foundational to making this shift.
