 has awarded a contract to SFL Missions Inc. to develop the AISSat-4 maritime ship tracking… ){kind=link}
The Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA) has awarded a contract to SFL Missions Inc. to develop the AISSat-4 maritime ship tracking microsatellite for launch in less than one year. AISSat-4 is needed to expand operational capacity in Norway’s maritime situational awareness network.
AISSat-4 is being developed on SFL’s SPARTAN 6U nanosatellite platform and will carry a single payload—a miniaturized Automatic Identification System (AIS) receiver built by Kongsberg Seatex of Trondheim, Norway. The SPARTAN bus is space proven with 18 commercial communications satellites previously deployed using this platform.
SFL Missions is prepared to develop AISSat-4 on an accelerated schedule. Additionally, the SPARTAN platform relies on heritage hardware and software and is easily tailored to accommodate the AIS receiver and antennas.
Under the leadership of NOSA and the Norwegian Coastal Administration, Norway operates the world’s most extensive and sophisticated space-based marine monitoring system to protect the safety of vessels and sustainability of resources in its vast territorial waters.
“The societal benefits we gain from collecting AIS information from satellites is significant. It is therefore important that we ensure the maintenance of this…