Planet offers broader data access to the academic community

Through our Ambassador’s Program, Planet has granted data to about 150 researchers…and what they’ve developed has blown us away. But we think that there’s more to be discovered. Today, we’re thrilled to announce a new offering for researchers at accredited universities across the globe: Planet’s Education and Research Program. Now, any college student, researcher or professor can gain access to Planet’s unique dataset for non-commercial research purposes. With access, participants can browse our large trove of remote sensing data, download imagery, analyze trends, and publish their results.

Clockwise from top left: Sarah Cooley studies polar regions; Greg Asner maps forests and coral reefs; Andreas Kääb studies changes in the cryosphere, and Meha Jain maps small holder farms in India.

Planet is excited to expand access to the larger academic community, and eager to learn about the new and interesting research applications of our high-frequency, global remote sensing dataset. To gain access, just create an account on Planet Explorer using your university email address, and select “Education and Research” as you do. Once you’ve set up your account, you can pick an area of interest of your choice as large as 2,000 square kilometers to monitor, and download up to 50 items a day.

The first Landsat satellite was launched in 1972, beginning the longest running scientific campaign for Earth Observation in history. Thanks to the Landsat program, educators and scientists the world over became increasingly cognizant of changes on the Earth’s surface, from vanishing forests to receding glaciers. As more government-sponsored and commercial datasets come online, we firmly believe that broadening access to multiple sources of Earth observation will spur new discoveries, and help us all make thoughtful, fact-based decisions towards a healthier planet.

Visit our website to apply to our brand new Education and Research Program.