Planet Labs Deploys Pelican-12 to Advance AI and Satellite Communications in Orbit Written 21 October 2026
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SpaceX Launches Falcon 9 with Bandwagon-5 October 20, at 6:30 a.m. EDT from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. | Credit: NASASpaceflight; YouTube; Framegrab
SatNews reports that Planet Labs successfully launched its Pelican-12 Earth observation satellite aboard SpaceX’s Bandwagon-5 rideshare mission on 20 October 2026, from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The spacecraft will test advanced artificial intelligence and satellite relay technologies designed to improve how Earth observation data is processed and transmitted. According to SatNews, the satellite features an NVIDIA Jetson module “enabling autonomous on-orbit artificial intelligence inferencing” to identify objects and process data before transmission to Earth. The mission marks another step in Planet Labs’ development of its next-generation satellite constellation.
Full Story (SatNews)
Video
SpaceX Launches Falcon 9 with Bandwagon-5 (Launch occurs at the 57:45 mark).
NASASpaceflight; YouTube