An Earth observation platform saving lives at sea

A tracking system has been monitoring up to 40 000 ships per year from the International Space Station since 2010. Only in 2017, this equivalent of the air traffic control system has played a critical role in rescuing over 300 people in the sea. The signals from the ships, usually checked by port authorities and coastguards to control local traffic, are registered from the Vessel ID system outside Europe’s Columbus research module. The Norwegian Defence Research Institute built and operates the receivers, which run on a largely automated basis. Weekly instructions are uploaded via Norway’s national User Support Operations Centre, part of an ESA-wide network serving Space Station experimenters. This partnership has contributed to an increase in maritime monitoring. The results give an overview of the ship traffic beneath the Station’s orbit, with coverage extending as far as polar latitudes.