Planet currently operates over 150 active satellites. Every day these satellites capture imagery of the whole of planet Earth. The satellite imagery captured by Planet provide a daily picture of Earth and are therefore ideal for monitoring global changes and trends. Planet's Dove satellites are able to create a complete image of the Earth once per day at 3-5 m optical resolution. The satellites do this using a technique called a line scan. You can see how this line scan technique works on Planet's fantastic 3D globe visualization.
Our Constellation is a great visualization of how Planet Labs' satellites build-up their daily picture of the Earth. The satellites are displayed on the globe as white dots circling the Earth. As the satellites circle the Earth they capture imagery of the planet below. As the Planet visualization plays out you can see these individual satellite images being added to the 3D globe, showing how Planet Labs' network of 150 satellites creates its complete daily Earth selfie. The satellite images used in the visualization were all captured on January 25th, 2018.
Dove satellites are very small. They are about the size of an average shoe box. Planet's Our Constellation website includes visualizations of how the Dove constellation provides global satellite coverage of the Earth. It also includes example satellite imagery captured by the Dove constellation of satellites and from Planet's other satellites.
Maps Mania also featured the 3D globe above in 2019 when it was first created by Nadieh Bremer and was featured on her GitHub page. I was reminded of Nadieh's fantastic visualization by a Tweet from Alasdair Rae, which featured the nice animated GIF (above) of Planet's daily satellite scan of the Earth, and also included a link to the globe's new home on Planet's Our Constellation website.
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