Startup UnseenLabs informed about its intentions to launch up to six more ship-tracking cubesats during 2020. The satellites aim to monitor maritime traffic, by using orbiting sensors to track vessels that turn off their AIS. Unseenlabs aspires to establish 20 to 50 satellites in low Earth orbit.
Aerospace solutions provider Airbus Defence and Space announced an upgrade of its digital maritime service to detect, identify and track vessels around the globe. The updated service is expected to enhance search and rescue operations or location and tracking of illegal maritime activities.
The US Coast Guard announced in the Federal Register that it may cease broadcasting Navigational Telex (NAVTEX) over Medium Frequency (MF) after first ensuring the information contained in NAVTEX broadcasts is available via IMO-recognized satellite services.
Inmarsat working with the Indonesian Ministry of Marine Affairs and Fisheries, its Department of Fisheries, the UK Space Agency and other partners marked the successful closure of a three-year fisheries innovation project. Using solar-powered satellite technology on smaller fishing vessels, the project aimed to improve safety, efficiency, ship to shore contact and offer possible fish stock sustainability improvements.
In cooperation with the Joint Arctic Command (JACO), EMSA plans and orders satellite imagery to meet service coverage requirements. After image acquisition trained operators analyze the images with supporting information, like vessel position data, to identify possible pollutions. After assessing the images, the operators also determine the possibility of the presence of oil on the sea surface, and to help in identifying the source of the pollution.
On 22 August, during the state visit to France of India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi, an agreement was signed by CNES President Jean-Yves Le Gall and Sivan K, Chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), to start development and production of a constellation of satellites, to track tracking ships continuously.
The Croatian authorities are using EMSA’s Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS) to boost their coast guard functions, as to monitor vessel traffic, conduct search and rescue procedures and detection and monitoring of marine pollution.
Intellian signed a strategic partnership in satellite communications with Hyundai Global Service, on July 15, aiming to expand HGS’ ‘Integrated Smart Ship’ solution. This is a digital ecosystem for vessel and fleet management, including a data analysis platform.
On this day 40 years ago, 16 July 1979, the International Maritime Satellite Organization (InMarSat) was established by IMCO. Inmarsat was established as a non-profit intergovernmental organisation on 16 July 1979 to deliver maritime safety satellite communications.
The European satellite-navigation system, Galileo, remains offline as it suffered an outage on July 12, which was described as a technical incident regarding its ground infrastructure. Engineers are working to fix the problem, but as of now there is no update regarding when the service will resume.
