In 2010 the service of operational satellite-based radar monitoring was widely applied by FSUE “Atomflot” for ice situation monitoring along the Northern Sea Route. Under the contract, reception and processing of radar images from RADARSAT-1 satellite was carried out by ScanEx specialists using proprietary distributed network of receiving centers in Moscow, Megion and Magadan.
In April-December 2010 FSUE “Atomflot”, supervising the activities of the Russian icebreaker fleet, used the results of operational satellite imagery for information support of a number of unique ice escorting operations, including the following ships: SCF Baltica large-capacity tanker with gas-condensate onboard completed its experimental trip along the Northern Sea Route in August 2010. Large-capacity ocean class tankers have never been escorted through the NSR before; bulk freighter “Nordic Barents” with iron ore onboard that became the first commercial ship passing through the NSR to China without stopping at ports (September 2010); “Georg Ots” ferry boat, not meant for navigation in ice conditions, became the first in the history of passenger ships passing through the water areas of the arctic seas from Murmansk to the Dezhnev Strait and further on along the eastern Russian boundaries (September-October, 2010); “Rossiya” nuclear icebreaker carried out a winter trip from Murmansk to the east of the Arctic Region (November 2010), following the NSR almost a month after the official completion of summer-autumn navigation season through the NSR.
