NGA signs up for Planet satellite imagery access

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency has signed up for a one-year, $14 million subscription to receive commercial imagery from small satellite provider Planet Labs.

Through its GSA IT Schedule contract, San Francisco-based Planet will give NGA and other defense and intelligence agencies access to the company's imagery of regions such as the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Central and South America.

NGA first connected with Planet through an introductory pilot program contract that ran from September 2016 to March 2017 to examine potential uses of imagery for persistent and global coverage.

This partnership gives NGA access to Planet's historical archive in an effort to help agency analyst produce products that detect changes on Earth and gain historical context for image references.

The agency will use Planet's imagery to support geospatial and other intelligence types along with humanitarian assistance efforts.