The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: SpaceX will send three Planet satellites into orbit along with their Starlink

In the coming weeks, satellite operator Planet is using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to send three of its small satellites along with 60 Starlink internet satellites. Thus, Planet will be the first in SpaceX's new mini-satellite co-launch program.

Three SkySat satellites will join Planet's low-Earth orbit constellation, which currently consists of 15 systems, each about the size of a washing machine. These satellites are engaged in capturing images of the Earth in high resolution. Planet plans to add six more satellites to its fleet: three as part of the upcoming Falcon 9 launch, and three more with the Falcon 9 launch from Starlink in July.

This won't be the first time Planet has launched satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket. The company launched seven satellites, including two SkySats, using the Falcon 9 in December 2018. That launch, known as the SSO-A mission, was a massive co-launch, carrying 64 satellites from different companies on just one rocket. An intermediary in the person of Spaceflight organized the launch, but now SpaceX is working directly with interested parties.

The work with SpaceX has been productive, Planet says. “One of the things that was really nice about working with SpaceX is that they work at the same pace as Planet,” Mike Safyan, Planet vice president of satellite launches, told The Verge. “We both work fast and do a lot of things ourselves, which allows us to speed up tasks compared to typical aerospace projects.” According to the head, only 6 months have passed from the moment of signing the contract with SpaceX to the launch.

Planet had a variety of SpaceX launches to choose from, Mr. Safian said: Elon Musk's company has permission to launch about 12 satellites into space for its Starlink constellation, designed to deploy a network of satellite Internet access. To implement the project, SpaceX is launching its Starlink satellites in batches of 000, with each flight in 60 happening about once a month. This opens up wide opportunities for small companies wishing to participate in "trailer" launches. By the way, the SpaceX program for the use of payloads by third-party companies provides for payment of only $2020 per 500 kg.

“When it comes to launching a mass of small satellites, you usually have to choose a specific mission and then just wait for other companies to reserve their dedicated payload,” said Mr. Safyan. - Sometimes we are talking about delays of an additional 3, 6, 9 and even 12 months. This is really important. That being said, SpaceX is launching new batches of Starlink very frequently, and the target orbit is great for our SkySats.”

The three satellites will sit above a cluster of 60 Starlink satellites in a Falcon 9 nose cone. With the launch of these three and the next three SkySats, Planet will give customers a new opportunity to capture images of specific locations on Earth up to 12 times a day.

Planet is also looking to increase the resolution of its images. In the past six months, it has led a campaign to lower the altitude of its SkySat satellites to bring them closer to Earth. This helped improve the resolution of images from about 80 cm per pixel to 50 cm per pixel.

Source: 3dnews.ru