Earth data specialist Planet Labs has launched its first hyperspectral satellite, Tanager-1, along with 36 SuperDoves (Flock 4BE) on the Transporter-11 Rideshare mission with SpaceX.

Tanager-1 will expand Planet’s capabilities by adding more than 400 spectral bands of data, capturing phenomena that are invisible to the human eye. Tanager-1 is made possible by the Carbon Mapper Coalition, a philanthropically-funded effort to develop and deploy industry-leading hyperspectral satellites designed to detect and track methane and CO2 super-emitters at a level of granularity that can support direct mitigation action.

Tanager-1 combines Planet’s smallsat bus technology with imaging spectrometer design developed at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Tanager’s hyperspectral data will be commercially available to Planet customers for a variety of additional applications, including defence and intelligence monitoring, biodiversity assessments, mineral mapping, and water quality assessments.

Planet will also launch 36 SuperDoves (Flock 4BE) that will contribute to Planet’s daily global monitoring.