14 DAY TRIAL // It's been more than three months since astronauts aboard the International Space Station (ISS) activated the ship-tracking experiment on the orbital lab, and they are still reporting continuing increases in the quality of data the instrument provides.
The Columbus AIS (Automatic Identification System) project has been developed by the European Space Agency, and is installed on the European-built Columbus laboratory module.
Since it was turned on, the COLAIS experiment has been functioning around the clock, tracking shipping lanes and heavy traffic across the world's oceans.
According to officials at ESA, the instrument is now capable of operating in sync with a dedicated satellite, that carries the same type of receiver.
At this point, the vast majority of marine vessels are required to carry AIS transponders. This is mandatory for large commercial ships, which carry numerous containers at the same time.
Officials at ESA oftentimes refer to the AIS system as the space-based equivalent of a land-based air traffic control system. The capabilities were turned on this June.
But COLAIS is made up of two independent receivers, both of which share the same external antenna.
The first is the NORAIS receiver, which was developed in cooperation by the Norwegian Defense Research Establishment (FFI) and Kongsberg Seatex.
In September, main capabilities will be switched over to the LUXAIS receiver, which was developed by a collaboration including LuxSpace, of Luxembourg, and EmTroniX.
The NORAIS receiver now works in parallel with the AIS-detecting satellite AISSat-1, which was launched on July 12 by Norway.
“We told ESA about having this satellite under development. They mentioned in turn they had just placed Columbus in space, an orbital laboratory for experimentation, so perhaps we should do something together,” says FFI NORAIS project manager Torkild Eriksen.
“That was how it started, with the LuxSpace team showing a similar interest. Operating over a two year period, the shared experiment aims to contribute to an operational space-based AIS system, to broaden our picture of marine traffic on the high seas,” he adds.
“Both the NORAIS and AISSat receivers follow the same design and are operating in parallel, but from different orbits and inclinations. This means they provide perfect data for comparing and investigating the prospect of an operational AIS satellite constellation,” says Karsten Strauch
The expert is the head of the ESA COLAIS project.”The experiment is part of ESA’s In-Orbit Demonstration Program, giving innovative technologies access to ESA space platforms, including ISS,” he concludes.