Satellite startup to launch record-breaking 88 satellites

SAN FRANCISCO — A San Francisco startup plans to deploy 88 imaging satellites in an Indian PSLV rocket set to be launched on Tuesday.

Planet, Inc. announced that the Dove satellites are scheduled to be launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Center in Sriharikota, India, in a blog post by Director of Launch and Regulatory Affairs Mike Safyan.

The imaging satellites are set to be deployed in a sun-synchronous orbit at an approximate altitude of 500 kilometers along with 12 other Dove satellites that are already in space, according to Safyan.

The group of 100 satellites will fly north to south as the earth rotates beneath them to form a “line scanner” constellation of satellites, Safyan said.

If the launch is successful, Planet expects to image the entire Earth daily, reports Quartz.

These shoebox-sized satellites continually photograph the surface and complete an orbit approximately every 90 minutes.

Planet announced two weeks ago that it had reached an agreement with Google to acquire its Terra Bella satellite business, including seven high resolution SkySat satellites.

The SkySat satellites are about the size of a cubical mini refrigerator and can capture 90-centimeter resolution images in color and near-infrared.