The constellation's goal is to be able to provide high-resolution satellite imagery of any place on Earth multiple times a day. When Skybox originally developed the satellites, they planned to "change the nature" of the satellite industry by building satellites with "off-the-shelf" electronics that cost under $50 million.

Planet anticipates the following markets for its products:

• Agriculture
• Civil Government
• Defence & Intelligence
• Education & Research
• Emergency Management
• Energy & Infrastructure
• Finance & Business
• Forestry & Land Use
• Insurance
• Mapping
• Maritime

The resolution of the SkySat satellite imagery and videos is high enough to observe objects that impact the global economy such as terrain, vehicles and shipping containers. The satellites can capture video clips lasting up to 90 seconds at 30 frames per second.