Tag: aboard

Planet Labs Deploys Pelican-12 to Advance AI and Satellite Communications in Orbit

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

NASA Sends 4 CubeSats into LEO

ExecutiveBiz reports that NASA “has deployed a set of four small satellites to low Earth orbit aboard Rocket Lab’s Electron launch vehicle to test autonomous spacecraft swarm technologies in space.” The 6U-sized CubeSats “lifted off from Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand and will demonstrate their ability to conduct maneuver planning, communications networking, relative navigation and autonomous positioning as a group with minimal supervision from ground mission controllers, NASA said Monday.” Funded by NASA’s Small Spacecraft Technology, the six-month Starling mission “is expected to pave the way toward advancing autonomous robotic swarms for future space and lunar science and exploration missions.”
Full Story (ExecutiveBiz)