Earth Day 2024

What’s the meaning of life? Why are we here? We have no idea, to be honest, but we have a firm suspicion that the answers to these questions have to do with our one and only home: Earth. Planeteers star-gaze a lot (you have to when your satellite office is in orbit), and we believe in using space to help life on Earth. But we also believe something else: the deeper you look into the depths of space, the more you appreciate just how special our bright blue marble really is.

The planet is in peril. We spend 51 weeks of the year discussing this fact in detail and sharing the ways we support initiatives combating environmental degradation. To balance this doom and gloom we also share beautiful scenes like spring blooms. The sad fact is it’s not easy. We often see more destruction than restoration. Part of that has to do with time: a forest burns faster than it grows for example. But most of it has to do with the reality that our destructive practices continue largely unabated. Our mission, in part, is to help reverse that trend.

We don’t just share beautiful images of the Earth because, well, Earth is photogenic. We share them because we believe in the overview effect: a transcendent cognitive shift that occurs when viewing the Earth from above, notably experienced by astronauts. A bit of distance helps us realize that we’re all connected and inspires feelings of awe—another life-changing emotion sparked by phenomena like the eclipse or a murmuration of starlings. Together, we believe that awe-inspiring images from space can induce greater feelings of compassion and admiration for the diversity of life around us. And, if you ask us, caring for the planet seems like a likely answer to the meaning of life.