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Planet Labs "are using IMUs [inertial measurement units] from video games, radio components from cellphones, processors meant for automobiles and medical devices, reaction wheels meant for dental tools, cameras intended for professional photography and the movies, and open-source software available on the Internet."

“Instead of developing their own hardware from scratch” as established satellite makers have tended to do, he says, “they’re taking the fruits of the commercial world’s labor and applying them to space.”