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El primer contacto con el satélite ESAIL fue realiza-
do con éxito por el equipo del proyecto ESAIL pocas
horas después del lanzamiento. El equipo del pro-
yecto, formado por miembros del equipo de exac-
tEarth (operador y propietario de la misión), LuxS-
pace (contratista principal) y la Agencia Espacial
Europea (patrocinador del proyecto) tienen el con-
trol del satélite.

ESAIL incorpora diseños avanzados de antenas y re-
ceptores que, junto con la tecnología avanzada de
procesamiento de decolisión de exactEarth, se espe-
ra que establezcan un nuevo estándar para la detec-
ción de embarcaciones por satélite-AIS.

© exactEarth

© ESAIL
Launch of the ESAIL
micro-satellite

Developed within the framework of ESA’s ARTES exactEarth and the support of the Canadian Space
project for the monitoring of global shipping, this mi- Agency. It will track ships all around the world by de-
cro-satellite was launched on 3 September aboard the tecting messages transmitted by radio via AIS. As part
Arianespace Vega (VV16) flight from the European of the exactEarth Satellite-AIS constellation, ESAIL will
spaceport at Kourou in French Guiana. It has been de- provide AIS data for global maritime traffic trac-
signed for a useful life of about four years. king, providing increased control over fishing, fleet
management, environmental protection and security
The satellite will undergo start-up (commissioning) monitoring, thus making the seas safer.
tests over the following months. Once in service, it
will provide an advanced, high-performance capability The ESAIL project team made their first successful con-
for detecting and tracking ships as part of the global tact with the ESAIL satellite a few hours after launch.
constellation of exactEarth, the industry leader The project team members, consisting of representati-
with more than 70 high-performance automatic iden- ves from exactEarth (as mission owner and operator),
tification system (AIS) satellites that provide real-time LuxSpace (the prime contractor) and the European
monitoring of the global shipping fleet. Space Agency (the project sponsor), have control of
the satellite.
VV16 is the first shared flight of Arianespace’s Vega
Small Spacecraft Mission Service (SSMS) that has now ESAIL incorporates state-of-the-art antenna and recei-
placed a total of 53 satellites into orbit. Approximately ver designs, which – along with exactEarth’s advanced
52 minutes after launch, ESAIL was placed in a syn- collision processing technology – are expected to set a
chronous orbit with the sun at an altitude of 515 km, new standard for satellite-AIS vessel detection.
with a local time descending node (LTDN) of 10:30 am.

ESAIL is a high-performance micro-satellite. It was
built by LuxSpace with support from the Luxembourg
Space Agency, in accordance with an ESA Project with

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