Planet Labs Internship in 2026
Planet Labs operates the largest constellation of Earth-imaging satellites ever built, capturing daily imagery of the entire planet's landmass. An internship here is not a defense contractor rotation or a NASA bureaucracy experience — it is a fast-moving commercial space company where interns build tools that process data from 200+ satellites in orbit. If satellite data, remote sensing, or geospatial analytics interest you, Planet is one of the few places where an intern can touch the full pipeline from spacecraft to end user.
What Planet Labs actually does
Planet designs, builds, and operates three types of Earth observation satellites:
| Satellite Type | Resolution | Constellation Size | Revisit Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| SuperDove (PS2.SD) | 3 meters | ~180 active | Daily global coverage |
| SkySat | 50 cm | 21 active | Multiple daily (tasking) |
| Pelican (next-gen) | 30 cm (planned) | First launches 2025–2026 | Sub-daily (target areas) |
The SuperDove constellation provides daily global imagery — meaning every point on Earth's landmass is photographed at least once per day. SkySats offer higher resolution with the ability to task specific targets. Pelican, Planet's next-generation satellite, aims to deliver 30 cm resolution at scale, closing the gap with legacy high-resolution providers.
Planet sells this data to governments (including the U.S. intelligence community through the NRO's commercial imagery program), agriculture companies (crop monitoring), insurance firms (disaster assessment), environmental organizations (deforestation tracking), and news organizations (geospatial intelligence for reporting).
For interns, this means the data you work with has real, immediate applications. A tool you build during your summer might be used to detect illegal mining in the Amazon or track infrastructure development in a conflict zone.
Planet pioneered the "agile aerospace" model — building small, mass-produced satellites quickly and cheaply rather than spending years on a single expensive spacecraft. SuperDoves are about the size of a toaster and cost a fraction of traditional imaging satellites. This approach means Planet can iterate on hardware rapidly, launching new satellite versions multiple times per year. Interns on the spacecraft team may work on the next iteration of hardware that launches within months, not years.
Intern roles and tracks
Planet's internship program covers engineering, data science, and business functions. The company typically hires 30 to 50 interns per summer, making it a mid-size cohort where you get meaningful face time with leadership.
Spacecraft Engineering:
- Mechanical design (satellite structure, deployment mechanisms)
- Electrical engineering (power systems, avionics, communication boards)
- Flight software (embedded C/C++, real-time operating systems)
- Integration and test (assembling and testing satellites in the clean room)
- Thermal analysis (orbital thermal modeling for small satellites)
Ground Systems and Software:
- Ground station software (satellite communication scheduling and automation)
- Cloud infrastructure (AWS-based data processing pipelines)
- Full-stack web development (Platform tools, customer-facing applications)
- DevOps/SRE (managing the infrastructure that processes terabytes of imagery daily)
Data Science and Machine Learning:
- Computer vision (object detection, change detection in satellite imagery)
- Geospatial analytics (time-series analysis of Earth observation data)
- Machine learning pipeline development (training and deploying models at scale)
- Calibration science (radiometric and geometric calibration of satellite imagery)
Business and Operations:
- Product management (defining features for Planet's data platform)
- Sales engineering (technical pre-sales support)
- Marketing (content creation, developer relations)
- Government affairs (policy, regulatory)
If you get a spacecraft engineering intern role, you will likely spend time in Planet's satellite integration facility in San Francisco. Working in a clean room — gowning up, handling flight hardware, running functional tests on satellites that will actually go to orbit — is an experience most students only read about. At Planet, the production cadence is fast enough that interns regularly contribute to satellites that launch within their internship or shortly after.
Pay and benefits
Planet pays interns hourly, with rates that reflect the San Francisco Bay Area cost of living and Planet's position as a publicly traded tech company (NYSE: PL).
| Intern Level | Hourly Rate | Estimated Monthly (pre-tax) |
|---|---|---|
| Undergraduate (junior/senior) | $30–$38 | $5,200–$6,600 |
| Master's student | $38–$42 | $6,600–$7,300 |
| PhD student | $42–$45 | $7,300–$7,800 |
Housing: Planet does not provide corporate housing, but they offer a housing stipend (typically $2,500 to $3,500/month for SF-based interns). Given that a shared room in San Francisco runs $1,500 to $2,500/month, the stipend covers a significant portion but likely not all of your housing costs.
Other perks:
- Free lunch at the SF office (daily catered meals)
- Transit stipend (Clipper card or equivalent)
- Access to company social events and speaker series
- Intern-specific programming (lunch-and-learns with executives, team outings)
- No equity or 401(k) for interns
Planet's intern pay is competitive with other mid-size space and tech companies but below what large tech firms (Google, Meta, Apple) pay for engineering interns in the Bay Area. The comparison that matters more is against other space companies: Planet pays significantly more than defense contractors (Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin) and is roughly comparable to SpaceX.
Application process and timeline
Planet typically posts internship positions between September and January for the following summer. The process includes:
| Stage | Timeline | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Application opens | September–October | Posted on planet.com/careers and LinkedIn |
| Resume screening | October–December | Automated + recruiter review |
| Phone screen | November–January | 30-minute call with recruiter |
| Technical interview | December–February | 45–60 minutes, role-specific (coding, design, or domain) |
| Team match interview | January–March | Meeting with the hiring manager |
| Offers | January–March | Rolling basis |
| Program start | June | 12 weeks (some roles offer flexible start dates) |
What makes an application competitive:
- Relevant project work (CubeSat teams, remote sensing research, geospatial analysis projects)
- Programming skills (Python is the lingua franca at Planet; C/C++ for embedded roles)
- Familiarity with geospatial tools (GDAL, QGIS, Google Earth Engine, rasterio)
- Experience with cloud platforms (AWS, GCP) for software and data roles
- A genuine interest in Earth observation — Planet's mission-driven culture means they value candidates who care about the data's applications, not just the engineering
What makes Planet different from defense internships
If you are comparing a Planet internship to one at Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, or another defense prime, here are the key differences:
| Factor | Planet Labs | Defense Prime (e.g., Northrop Grumman) |
|---|---|---|
| Company size | ~900 employees | 90,000–100,000 employees |
| Intern cohort | 30–50 | 2,000+ |
| Classification | Unclassified (mostly) | Often Secret or higher |
| Technology | Commercial satellite data, cloud, ML | Military systems, classified programs |
| Work pace | Startup-fast (ship code weekly) | Program-driven (milestones over months) |
| Location | San Francisco (primarily) | Dozens of locations nationwide |
| Dress code | Casual (jeans, t-shirts) | Business casual |
| Citizenship req. | Not required for most roles | U.S. citizenship for most roles |
| Career path | Tech/startup trajectory | Defense career ladder |
Neither is objectively better — they are fundamentally different career experiences. Planet gives you startup speed, commercial technology, and mission-driven work. Defense primes give you scale, clearance access, and long-term career structures.
Unlike defense contractors, Planet hires international students for many intern positions. If you are on an F-1 visa with CPT or OPT authorization, you are eligible for most software, data science, and some engineering roles. Spacecraft hardware roles that involve ITAR-controlled technology may still require U.S. Person status, but Planet's data and software sides are generally open to non-citizens.
Living in San Francisco as an intern
San Francisco is expensive, but Planet's housing stipend and free lunch offset some of the cost. Here is a realistic budget for a Planet intern summer:
| Expense | Monthly Cost | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Housing (shared room) | $1,500–$2,500 | Stipend covers most of this |
| Food (dinner, weekends) | $400–$700 | Lunch is free at the office |
| Transit | $0–$100 | Stipend provided |
| Entertainment | $200–$500 | SF has plenty of free activities too |
| Total | $2,100–$3,800 | |
| Monthly income (pre-tax) | $5,200–$7,300 |
After taxes (California + federal), most interns take home $3,800 to $5,400 per month. With expenses of $2,100 to $3,800, you can save $1,000 to $2,600 per month — not bad for a summer internship.
Planet's office in San Francisco is in the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood, near the Caltrain station if you are commuting from the Peninsula. The office itself reflects the company culture: open floor plan, satellite models on display, and screens showing real-time imagery from the constellation.
FAQ
How competitive is the Planet Labs internship?
Planet receives several thousand applications for 30 to 50 intern spots, making it selective — roughly a 1% to 2% acceptance rate. Candidates with relevant project experience (CubeSat teams, geospatial research, satellite data analysis) and strong programming skills have the best chances. A referral from a current Planet employee helps.
Can I work remotely as a Planet intern?
Planet prefers interns to be on-site in San Francisco for the collaborative experience. Some roles, particularly in software and data science, may offer hybrid arrangements (3 to 4 days on-site), but fully remote internships are rare. Hardware and spacecraft engineering roles are strictly on-site.
Does Planet offer return offers to interns?
Yes. Planet extends full-time offers to strong performers, though the conversion rate varies by year depending on headcount and hiring budget. The company is publicly traded and subject to market conditions, so return offer availability can fluctuate more than at a defense prime with stable government contracts.
What programming languages should I know?
Python is the most important. Planet's data pipelines, analysis tools, and much of the ground system software use Python. For spacecraft flight software roles, C and C++ are required. JavaScript/TypeScript is relevant for web-facing product roles. Familiarity with geospatial libraries (GDAL, Shapely, rasterio) is a differentiator for data science and analytics positions.
Is prior space industry experience required?
No. Planet hires interns from a wide range of backgrounds, including computer science students with no aerospace experience. What matters is relevant technical skills and a genuine interest in Earth observation. Many successful Planet interns come from software engineering or data science backgrounds and learn the satellite domain on the job.
Start your search
Browse Planet Labs positions on Zero G Talent. For other Earth observation and remote sensing careers, explore roles at Maxar or search for satellite data jobs. Compare internship opportunities across the space industry with our guide to space internships or search all space industry jobs on the site.
