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Will Marshall
Will Marshall is a physicist and entrepreneur who co-founded Planet Labs (originally called Cosmogia) in 2010 along with Chris Boshuizen and Robbie Schingler.13 He currently serves as the CEO of Planet, a satellite and Earth data company based in San Francisco, California.14
Marshall received his Ph.D. in Physics from Oxford University, where he worked on experiments testing the foundations of quantum mechanics under the mentorship of Sir Roger Penrose and Dirk Bouwmeester.1 He also holds a Masters in Physics with Space Science and Technology from the University of Leicester.2
Before founding Planet, Marshall worked as a Scientist at NASA/USRA, where he contributed to several missions:
- System Engineer on the lunar orbiter mission "LADEE"
- Science Team member for the lunar impactor mission "LCROSS"
- Co-Principal Investigator on PhoneSat
- Technical lead on research projects in orbital space debris remediation12
At Planet, Marshall is responsible for setting the company's vision, architecting its strategy, and leading the development of advanced technologies.24 Under his leadership, Planet became the first company in the world to launch a constellation of small, inexpensive satellites into low Earth orbit, revolutionizing the Earth observation industry.15
Marshall has given two TED talks and has published over 30 articles in scientific publications, including Science magazine.12 He has also written space-related op-eds for publications such as the New York Times and Boston Globe.2 In 2024, Marshall received an RPS (The Royal Photographic Society) Award for Environmental Responsibility, alongside his co-founder Robbie Schingler.1




