Tanager Testimonials: Insights from Hannah

Dr. Mark Keremedjiev | June 10, 2024

Howdy! Welcome to our eighth Tanager Testimonial where we highlight the diverse set of people and skills required to bring Planet’s new hyperspectral space mission to life. Today we are sharing our interview with Hannah Liebman, Tanager’s Spacecraft Qualification Engineer. Hannah has worked at Planet on the Qual team for 2 years and has a background in mechanical engineering from Monash University in Australia.

What is your role at Planet? In this role, how do you contribute to the Tanager Mission?

I’m a Spacecraft Qualification Engineer at Planet. I run proto-qualification test campaigns for Tanager and other spacecraft to make sure they meet all of our launch vendor requirements. I also do some work on integration activities, like leading the fueling campaign for Tanager, and preparing for integration of our spacecraft on the launch vehicle.?

Our team does all the testing to make sure our satellites are designed to survive the harsh environments they might see during launch, separation, and in orbit. We simulate those conditions in our lab. Some of the types of test we run include vibration testing, shock testing and thermal testing. My work requires technical knowledge to understand the design requirements, to solve unexpected testing behavior and organization skills to plan these campaigns and coordinate with other teams. It’s important to understand what items might be more at risk so we can improve those areas and gain confidence that the spacecraft will survive launch and in orbit.

What is proto-qualification?

Proto-qualification (or Protoqual), qualification (qual), and acceptance testing are the three main tests our team works on. For example, when we have a whole flock of a finalized spacecraft built, we’ll take aside one of the units (now called a qual unit) and we’ll qualify it to environmental levels that exceed the launch environment and if it survives we’ll say that this design is totally qualified. Once that’s completed we can do acceptance testing for the rest of that flock. Acceptance testing is a much lower level test that checks the workmanship of each unit.?

But for a new design like Tanager, we can’t afford to take aside a whole unit just for testing. Additionally, we are still improving and changing the design for each unit. That’s when we do protoqual, which is a slightly less intense test than full-qual but still higher than our expected launch environment. This comes from requirements from our launch providers and allows us to gain confidence that the spacecraft will survive launch. This is used when we have a single unit instead of a whole flock of spacecraft.?

What does a typical day for you look like on the Tanager Team?

It’s different every day. I spend a lot of time preparing for the tests I’ve been leading. So designing and procuring the test hardware and lifting equipment, getting all the requirements such as test levels and environments for the tests, and tracking the satellite build progress. That takes quite a while, especially with a new satellite design like Tanager. We try to prepare as best we can to predict and account for anything unexpected that might come up!?

Once the satellite is built it gets handed off to qual to run our campaign. That’s the exciting part since we spend so long preparing for these tests and we learn a lot from the results. Other days I’ll be preparing for integration or installing flight hardware on the satellite. The job is lots of fast-paced trouble-shooting. I’m running around on my feet most days.?

What first got you interested in working on space missions?

I wasn’t initially interested while at university. I studied mechanical engineering and was pretty open to trying out different career paths, which I tested with internships. For the first few years out of university, I was more into infrastructure work like rail projects and some net zero projects for hospitals and schools. But I got to a point where I wanted to try something new, faster-paced, and more hands-on. So I ended up in the space industry. There’s nothing cooler than spacecraft for a hands-on experience.

What has been your favorite aspect of working on the Tanager Mission?

We had some tough tests early on, so that was a pretty intense and challenging experience. But it made our most recent successful test earlier this year all the more rewarding. Bouncing back after some setbacks was a great outcome for the team. We got our redemption after a struggle.?

What surprised you most about working on space programs?

Planet is the only space company I’ve worked for, but I’ve loved how hands-on we are. I’ll be testing one thing one day and then helping with certain parts of the build on another. I get to do a lot here. I was surprised by how fast the learning curve is. I knew it would be faster than the infrastructure industry that I was used to, but I didn’t realize how fast we could build, test, and get a spacecraft into orbit. It’s amazing to me how quickly we can get these spacecraft built and out the door. Compared to infrastructure, aerospace is light speed!

For anyone interested in getting into the space business, are there any words of advice you would share?

For college students I’d suggest getting involved as much as you can. There are so many opportunities these days. My university didn’t have any rocket or rover student teams until my last year which I got involved in once it was developed and it was an awesome experience. But these days it seems like every university has some kind of cool space program. And there are amazing opportunities to do internships when you’re still studying. My biggest advice is to try new things. You don’t know what will stick or what you’ll end up loving until you try it.

Forward-looking Statements

Except for the historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this blog post (including statements related to the Company in the third party blog post reproduced below) are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, the Company’s ability to successfully design, build, launch and deploy, operate and market new products and satellites and the Company’s ability to realize any of the potential benefits from product and satellite launches, either as designed, within the expected time frame, in a cost-effective manner, or at all. Forward-looking statements are based on the Company’s management’s beliefs, as well as assumptions made by, and information currently available to them. Because such statements are based on expectations as to future events and results and are not statements of fact, actual results may differ materially from those projected. Factors which may cause actual results to differ materially from current expectations include, but are not limited to: the Company’s ability to obtain and maintain required licenses and approvals from regulatory agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), in a timely fashion, or at all; whether the Company will be able to successfully build, launch and deploy or operate its satellites, including new satellites either as designed, in a timely fashion or at all; the Company’s ability to develop and release product and service enhancements to respond to rapid technological change, or to develop new designs and technologies for its satellites, in a timely and cost-effective manner; whether the Company will be able to continue to invest in scaling its sales organization, expanding its software engineering (including its ability to integrate new satellite capabilities) and marketing capabilities; whether the Company will be able to accurately predict and capture market opportunity; whether current customers or prospective customers adopt the Company’s platform or new products; the Company’s ability realize any of the potential benefits from new products and satellites, as well as strategic partnerships and customer collaborations; and the risk factors and other disclosures about the Company and its business included in the Company’s periodic reports, proxy statements, and other disclosure materials filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) which are available online at www.sec.gov, and on the Company’s website at www.planet.com. All forward-looking statements reflect the Company’s beliefs and assumptions only as of the date such statements are made. The Company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.