Planet Opens New State-of-the-Art Satellite Manufacturing Factory in San Francisco

Today, Planet is excited to announce the opening of our new satellite manufacturing and testing factory, located in the heart of San Francisco. As part of the grand opening, held in conjunction with the Global Climate Action Summit, the first batch of Doves manufactured in the new facility will be shipped out to India, via our deployment integration partners in the Netherlands, for launch on the PSLV rocket.

Planet already was home to the most prolific satellite production facility in the world – enabling us to launch a record 146 satellites in 2017. The new facility takes Planet to a new level. At 27,000+ square-feet, the state-of-the-art complex is six times the size of our previous lab and brings all aspects of spacecraft design and production – from R&D to manufacturing to testing – under one roof. This enables us to iterate faster and continue to push the envelope of what small sats are capable of.

The additional square footage and flexible floor plan also allows for simultaneous production of multiple spacecraft lines, from Doves to future satellite constellations. For example, concurrent with other spacecraft designs, Planet can now build upwards of 40 Doves per week, which is nearly twice the build capacity of our previous manufacturing site.

A highlight of the new facility is a multi-purpose environmental testing facility capable of simulating space environments and testing the readiness of our hardware for flight. Coupled with Planet’s expertise in automation and data aggregation, these physical testing capabilities allow us to qualify and release new designs and missions quickly – without compromising quality or agility.

Planet is proud to open our new manufacturing and testing facility during the Global Climate Action Summit and reinforce our commitment of using space to help life on Earth. Satellites manufactured in this facility will help fill critical climate data gaps and, ultimately, help solve the global climate crisis. Stay tuned for more on that effort in the coming days.

Learn more about Planet’s agile aerospace approach, our satellite constellations, and follow the event conversation at #GCAS2018. Photography by Karna Kurata.