Planet Labs, the San Francisco-based satellite manufacturer and constellation operator, has a public Ephemerides service that lists orbital data for its spacecraft. A recent query of that service, cross-referenced against the GCAT catalog, shows details for 97 of the company’s satellites still in orbit.
The exercise is a plain technical one. It involves a command-line download of two-line element sets, followed by a database query. The result is a table of spacecraft, their orbits, and their launch dates.
Company Background
Planet Labs is 15 years old. LinkedIn lists the firm as having 1,751 associated members. The company operates or has operated four different constellations throughout its history and captures imagery of the entire Earth’s landmasses every day.
CEO Will Marshall is one of the firm’s three co-founders. In February, he posted images alongside NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, French President Emmanuel Macron, and Kaja Kallas, who was Estonia’s Prime Minister between 2021 and 2024 and is now Vice-President of the European Commission.
Pelican-11 Deployment
The newest satellite, Pelican-11, was deployed by SpaceX’s Transporter 17 Mission on July 7th. It will join the Tanager constellation. The release happened in Lower Low Earth Orbit (LLEO) over Greece.
The query filters for satellites with “In orbit” status. It excludes columns like AltNames, SDate, DDate, Manufacturer, Motor, JCAT, ODate, OQUAL, PLName, DryMass, and TotMass.
SkySat Series
The SkySat satellites appear first in the table. SkySat A launched on 2013 Nov 21, with an apogee of 597 kilometers and a mass of 90 kilograms. Its owner is listed as SKYBOX, with the Satcat identifier 39418.
The SkySat C series followed between 2016 and 2018. These satellites weigh 110 kilograms and orbit between roughly 497 and 588 kilometers. Their operator is listed as TBELLA for the earlier launches and PLABST for the later ones.
Flock Swarms
The Flock satellites dominate the list. These are small spacecraft, 5.7 kilograms each, launched in large batches. The Flock 4q series went up on 2023 Nov 11, with satellites like Flock 4q-16, Flock 4q-2, and Flock 4q-4.
The Flock 4be series followed on 2024 Aug 16. The table shows a subset of that series, including Flock 4be-1, Flock 4be-11, Flock 4be-13, and Flock 4be-14, among others. Their parent objects are listed as A11079 for the 4q series and A11288 for the 4be series.
Pelican 1
Pelican 1, launched on 2023 Nov 11, appears in the table. It is significantly larger than the Flock satellites at 160 kilograms, with a length of 2.3 meters. Its parent object is listed as A11079.
The satellite catalog includes identifiers like SD4.4, SD1.2, SD1.4, and SD3.1 in the parent column for some Flock 4q satellites. The source does not explain what those suffixes mean.
Orbital Parameters
Each row includes Apogee, Perigee, and Inclination values. The SkySat satellites sit higher, with apogees up to 597 kilometers. The Flock satellites cluster lower, around 505 to 531 kilometers.
Satellite Table
| Satellite | Launch Date | Apogee (km) | Mass (kg) | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SkySat A | 2013 Nov 21 | 597 | 90 | SKYBOX |
| SkySat C1 | 2016 Jun 22 | 515 | 110 | TBELLA |
| SkySat C6 | 2017 Oct 31 | 527 | 110 | PLABST |
| Flock 4q-16 | 2023 Nov 11 | 531 | 5.7 | PLAN |
| Pelican 1 | 2023 Nov 11 | 530 | 160 | PLAN |
| Flock 4be-1 | 2024 Aug 16 | 515 | 5.7 | PLAN |
Query Mechanics
The database command joins the NORAD IDs from the Ephemerides file against the GCAT catalog. It filters for active satellites and sorts by launch tag and name. The output is a clean, machine-readable list of everything Planet Labs has flying.
The query filters for satellites with “In orbit” status.
The post is a small window into how a modern satellite operator works. No press release, no marketing — just a database query and a table of hardware in the sky.
Source: tech.marksblogg.com