Planet Labs Ships Updated Pelican Satellite for SpaceX Launch

09:53 AM EDT, 09/25/2026 (MT Newswires) -- Planet Labs (PL) said Friday its second-generation Pelican-12 high-resolution satellite arrived in Florida for an upcoming launch on a SpaceX (SPCX) rideshare mission. The updated spacecraft has payload and communication system improvements to test new technologies before future deployment, the company said. The satellite will test commercial data relay services with a steerable antenna to achieve faster two-way communication speeds and lower data delivery delays, Planet Labs said. The second-generation model is built to capture up to 30-centimeter-class images and uses an onboard computing platform for real-time artificial intelligence object detection, it said. Price: 17.82, Change: +0.20, Percent Change: +1.11