ESAIL (original) (raw)

ESAIL [exactEarth]

ESAIL () is a microsatellite for AIS ship tracking operated by exactEarth. It is developed in cooperation with ESA.

exactEarth is a provider of global AIS (Automatic Identification System) maritime vessel data for ship tracking and maritime situational awareness solutions. The ESAIL satellite was supported by European Space Agency (ESA � ESTEC) through the ARTES 21 SAT-AIS (SATellite Automatic Identification System) program, and was developed and built by a European manufacturing team led by the satellite prime contractor Luxspace.

The ESAIL microsatellite has a mass of 110 kg and features an enhanced multiple antenna-receiver configuration for global detection of AIS messages and high-resolution spectrum capture, which will enable the demonstration of advanced future services such as VDES (VHF Data Exchange System) message reception.

The ESAIL satellite will be launched in a Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) at an altitude of 515 km on a Vega SSMS rideshare flight in 2020 from the Guiana Space Center, Europe�s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana.

After launch and commissioning, the ESAIL satellite will be integrated into exactEarth�s global constellation � which currently consists of more than 60 high-performance maritime monitoring payloads.