Calibration/Validation Intern, Lunar Pipeline

Internships at Planet:

Planet’s Summer 2026 internships are full-time, paid 12-week positions located in our San Francisco HQ Office. 

Program Dates:

• June 1 - August 21
• June 22 - September 11

About the Role:

The Calibration and Validation (CalVal) team supports all of Planet's satellite constellations by ensuring every pixel we deliver reports a calibrated radiometric observation in its right place on the Earth. The CalVal team applies learnings from scientific research at scale, affecting millions of images and terabytes of data. 

This role focuses on radiometric calibration for our PlanetScope SuperDove constellation using the moon as a reference target. The team is looking for a skilled software engineer to help build an image processing pipeline that stitches partial lunar images into a full-disk composite to compare against established radiometric models. The goal is to use this model to then develop an internal dashboard that can help us  monitor satellite stability and quality.

This is a full-time, hybrid role which will require you to work from our San Francisco office 3 days per week.

Impact You'll Own:

• Design and implement an image processing pipeline to stitch multiple lunar observations into single composite images.
• Critically evaluate the results by comparing the composite against reference imagery and established lunar calibration models (such as ROLO).
• Develop a web interface surfacing satellite health and performance metrics
• Develop metrics to quantify lunar imagery pipeline performance

What You Bring:

• Currently pursuing a degree in Computer Science, Earth/Planetary Science, Aerospace Engineering, or a related field.
• Experience with scientific computing in Python within a Unix/Linux environment
• Experience conducting research projects and presenting findings
• A hands-on, collaborative mindset with effective interpersonal skills

What Makes You Stand Out: 

• Experience with image registration, mosaicking, and spatial transformations.
• Knowledge of coordinate transformations, pointing geometry, or spacecraft ephemeris (e.g., SPICE).
• Passion for photography, remote sensing, Earth science, and geography
• Development skills in JavaScript and React
• Experience with FastAPI, SQL, and PostgreSQL
• Familiarity with computer vision libraries (e.g., OpenCV, scikit-image) and techniques for aligning unreferenced images.
• Understanding of Object-Oriented Programming (OOP) and version control using Git

Application Deadline:

April 13, 2026 at 11:59p PT

EAR/ITAR Requirements:

This position requires access to export-controlled informa