Canada’s Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) has launched Norway’s NorSat-4 maritime monitoring microsatellite.The seventh spacecraft developed for the Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA) by SFL, NorSat-4 carries a fifth-generation Automatic Identification…
Canada’s Space Flight Laboratory (SFL) has launched Norway’s NorSat-4 maritime monitoring microsatellite.
The seventh spacecraft developed for the Norwegian Space Agency (NOSA) by SFL, NorSat-4 carries a fifth-generation Automatic Identification System (AIS) ship tracking receiver and a first-of-its-kind low-light imaging camera.
Built on SFL’s 35-kg DEFIANT microsatellite bus, NorSat-4 launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California aboard the SpaceX Transporter-12 rideshare mission on January 14.
The low-light optical camera expands the Norwegian Coastal Administration’s ability to detect and track vessels in its Arctic territorial waters by supplementing the AIS receiver aboard the satellite.
Safran Reosc of France built the camera under contract with the Norwegian Defence Research Establishment to optically detect vessels longer than 30 meters in Arctic darkness.
The camera is a demanding payload because it requires active thermal control to maintain low-light image quality and also needs extremely precise attitude control for accurate image geolocation. Additionally, SFL designed and manufactured a very compact mechanical iris shutter for the camera aperture, protecting the device from direct sun exposure in orbit.
SFL has a long history of supporting Norway’s leadership in space-based maritime traffic monitoring beginning with the 7-kg AISSat-1 nanosatellite in 2010. This mission proved that AIS signals
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