Nearing the end of its third month of continuous operation, the International Space Station’s ship-tracking experiment has experienced a marked increase in data quality. Now it operates along with a dedicated satellite carrying the same receiver. The Station’s Columbus laboratory is being used to track Automatic Identification System (AIS) signals from ships at sea. AIS is, in a way, the marine equivalent of the air traffic control system, with commercial vessels mandated to carry AIS transponders. Switched on in June, ESA’s ‘Columbus AIS’ (COLAIS) project involves two different receivers sharing the same external antenna. The Norwegian Defence Research Establishment (FFI) and Kongsberg Seatex are responsible for the NORAIS receiver being employed for the first three months of operations, switching to the LUXAIS receiver in September, which has been developed by Luxembourg-based LuxSpace and EmTroniX. Read More
