PARIS – Planet Labs Germany GmbH announced a contract Sept. 16 to provide Earth-observation data and services to the German Space Agency DLR.
The value of the three-year contract was not disclosed.
Under the agreement, DLR and German researchers will have access to PlanetScope products, including nearly daily imagery of Earth’s landmass at approximately three-meter resolution. The contract also covers the PlanetScope archive, which includes data from 2016 on.
In addition, the DLR will obtain Planet’s archive of RapidEye imagery over Germany. The archive includes imagery with a resolution of five meters per pixel obtained since 2009.
“Our research projects and missions are advancing how we understand climate, security, and our global economy,” Godela Rossner, who leads the DLR Earth Observation Department, said in a statement. “With access to PlanetScope and RapidEye satellite data, we give scientists the opportunity to develop new innovative methods and applications to derive better insights of our planet Earth with enhanced data analysis capacities and timely data inputs.”
Planet has numerous agreements with European government agencies and companies.
“Europe has been leading the way in investment and innovation in the Earth observation industry, and we are thrilled to continue working directly with the German Space Agency to further accelerate this momentum,” Marcus Apel, Planet director public sector business in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, said in a statement. “With Planet’s EU headquarters located in Berlin, we have built a close relationship with Germany’s government and businesses and look forward to supporting the myriad of research projects at DLR and researchers in Germany.”
The DLR has worked with Planet data for more than a decade and began integrating Planet data in research programs in 2009. Through the new contract, Planet provide data access and support development of a DLR Earth-observation platform, called EO-Lab.