SFL to Ship Fast Deployment AISSat-4 for Norway’s Increasing Maritime Surveillance
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Jul 30, 2025
SFL Missions Inc. has secured a contract from the Norwegian Area Company (NOSA) to develop AISSat-4, a ship-tracking nanosatellite scheduled for launch inside a yr. The mission goals to bolster Norway’s maritime monitoring community by including capability as present satellites method the top of their service lives.
Constructed on SFL’s confirmed SPARTAN 6U platform, AISSat-4 will carry a single Automated Identification System (AIS) receiver developed by Kongsberg Seatex of Trondheim. The SPARTAN bus has a powerful observe report, with 18 business satellites launched thus far.
SFL’s vertically built-in construction permits speedy growth, testing, and deployment. “We’ve in depth expertise in implementing AIS missions, and due to this fact we’ve the experience and design heritage wanted to implement the AISSat-4 mission on a brief schedule,” stated Dr. Robert E. Zee, SFL Missions Director and CEO.
The AISSat-4 satellite tv for pc will seize as much as 1.5 million distinctive AIS indicators day by day, even in busy maritime corridors. It should reinforce Norway’s Blue Justice Ocean Surveillance Program, which permits nations to share space-based AIS knowledge to fight unlawful fishing and maritime crime globally.
Norway operates one of many world’s most superior space-based marine surveillance programs by means of NOSA and the Norwegian Coastal Administration. “The societal advantages we acquire from amassing AIS data from satellites is important. It’s due to this fact vital that we guarantee the upkeep of this functionality,” stated Coastal Administration Director Einar Vik Arset.
The Norwegian house AIS fleet started with AISSat-1 in 2010, which collected knowledge for 12 years. It was adopted by AISSat-2, NorSat-1 and -2 in 2017, NorSat-3 in 2021, NorSat-TD in 2023, and NorSat-4 in early 2025. These satellites built-in more and more superior applied sciences together with radar detectors, optical cameras, laser communications, and fifth-generation AIS receivers.
The upcoming AISSat-4 satellite tv for pc will focus solely on AIS knowledge assortment, persevering with the legacy of space-based maritime situational consciousness initiated over 15 years in the past in partnership with SFL.
Associated Hyperlinks
SFL Missions
Naval Warfare within the twenty first Century
