Key Takeaways
- Planet Labs (PL) stock increased 3.18% to $18.17 in premarket hours Friday, following Thursday’s impressive 7.57% rally.
- Google announced its Suncatcher prototype satellite will launch aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission next week for inaugural in-space testing.
- The collaboration between Planet and Google was initially announced in November 2025; this week’s announcement represents a flight milestone rather than a fresh partnership.
- Laboratory testing confirmed Google’s Trillium TPUs can withstand radiation exposure exceeding five years of space operation.
- Google has scheduled a dual-satellite laser communication test for 2027 to validate space-based computing infrastructure.
[[LINK_START_3]]Planet Labs (PL)[[LINK_END_3]] shares advanced 3.18% to reach $18.17 during Friday’s premarket session. This gain builds upon Thursday’s substantial 7.57% increase, which pushed the closing price to $17.62.
The upward momentum correlates with developments around Google’s Project Suncatcher, an initiative designed to evaluate artificial intelligence processors in orbital environments. Google confirmed Wednesday that its inaugural orbital demonstration is scheduled for next week’s launch.
Based on Friday’s premarket valuation, Planet Labs shares were trading approximately 10.7% higher than the September 18 closing figure of $16.42. Should this level maintain through standard trading hours, the stock appears positioned for notable weekly performance.
Important context: this represents a project milestone rather than a newly formed partnership. Planet Labs initially disclosed its Suncatcher participation in November 2025. The current development marks Google’s transition from laboratory validation to actual spaceflight operations.
Google’s Orbital Testing Objectives
The Suncatcher spacecraft is scheduled to launch via SpaceX’s Transporter-18 shared-payload mission. Developed in collaboration with Planet Labs, the satellite will transport Google Tensor Processing Units to orbital altitude.
After years of research, Project Suncatcher is scheduled to embark on its first test in orbit, launching a prototype satellite to evaluate how Google Tensor Processing Units (TPUs) perform in space. Learn more about the science behind this moonshot. ⬇️ https://t.co/GGTH2tZOHZ
— Google (@Google) September 24, 2026
The primary objective involves assessing chip performance throughout launch operations and orbital deployment. Space environments present severe radiation exposure and thermal fluctuations that terrestrial hardware never encounters.
Google conducted comprehensive ground validation ahead of flight. Technical teams subjected the satellite to vibration testing simulating rocket ascent dynamics, while independently exposing Trillium TPUs to proton beam radiation at UC Davis facilities.
Results from radiation exposure tests indicated the processors could endure radiation levels exceeding typical five-year space mission requirements. Google additionally validated a heat pipe and radiator thermal management system, critical since orbital vacuum conditions eliminate convective cooling available in Earth’s atmosphere.
A more ambitious demonstration is planned for 2027, involving a dual-satellite deployment. This subsequent phase will evaluate whether inter-satellite laser communications can enable functional computing clusters operating in space.
Planet’s Participation Dates to Late 2025
Planet Labs initially revealed its Suncatcher engagement on November 4, 2025. The original announcement outlined plans to deploy two demonstration satellites by early 2027 for high-bandwidth inter-satellite link validation.
Planet Labs indicated the mission leverages the identical satellite platform architecture used in its Owl technology series, connecting the project directly to its existing manufacturing infrastructure.
Therefore, Google’s recent communication establishes a near-term development milestone preceding the 2027 phase. It does not represent a newly established collaboration between the organizations.
Outside of Suncatcher, Planet Labs has experienced significant activity. The company unveiled Amazon.ia this week, a satellite observation program supported by over $14 million in Bezos Earth Fund financing to monitor Amazon basin biodiversity.
Planet’s Berlin manufacturing center is projected to approximately double satellite production capacity, a development analysts believe could facilitate converting the company’s roughly $815 million contract backlog into recognized revenue.
Regarding financial performance, Planet Labs delivered $0.02 earnings per share in its most recent quarter, exceeding projections, while revenue increased 58.2% compared to the year-ago period. Current Wall Street consensus on PL stock stands at Hold, with analysts setting an average price objective of $32.77.
Planet’s tokenized equity instrument, PLon, was priced at $18.28 as of 7:08 a.m. ET Friday, representing a 12.74% increase over the preceding 24-hour period according to CoinMarketCap data.
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