Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 29, 2026

ESAIL

ESAIL was a small satellite developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) in partnership with LuxSpace and ExactEarth.

Last revised
Jun 29, 2026
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ESAIL
Mission typeMaritime tracking
Operator European Space Agency
Luxembourg Luxspace
Canada exactEarth
COSPAR ID2020-061B
SATCAT no.46273Edit this on Wikidata
Start of mission
Launch date3 September 2020
RocketVega flight VV16
Launch siteGuiana Space Centre
End of mission
Decay date3 March 2025
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeSun-synchronous
Altitude515 km

ESAIL was a small satellite developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) in partnership with LuxSpace and ExactEarth.123

History

Its objective was worldwide tracking of ships using their automatic identification systems (AIS)456 for fisheries monitoring, fleet management, environmental protection, and security monitoring.789

The satellite was launched in September 2020 on the Vega flight VV16 from Guiana Space Centre.1011121314

In a record-breaking technology demonstration, the satellite managed to process more than 2,000,000 messages from 70,000 different ships in a single day, representing a 15% to 20% improvement over previous satellites.151617

See also

See also

References

References

  1. "1st High-performance Microsatellite Made in Luxembourg Launches". Chronicle.lu. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  2. "ESAIL maritime satellite ready for launch". space-agency.public.lu. 2020-06-14. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  3. "Watching the ships go by, from space". space-agency.public.lu. 2020-03-02. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  4. "ESAIL maritime satellite launched". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  5. "ESAIL". Gunter's Space Page. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  6. "SatNOGS DB - ESAIL". db.satnogs.org. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  7. Boucher, Marc (2020-06-20). "In focus - The ship tracking ESAIL satellite". SpaceQ Media Inc. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  8. "ESAIL Maritime Microsatellite - eoPortal". www.eoportal.org. Archived from the original on 2024-09-10. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  9. "Satellites for safer seas". www.esa.int. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  10. "exactEarth Announces Successful Launch of the ESAIL Microsatellite". SpaceRef.
  11. "DLR – ESAIL microsatellite launched with satellite platform". www.dlr.de. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  12. "ESAIL Satellite Mission Summary | CEOS Database". database.eohandbook.com. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  13. "ExactEarth Announces Successful Launch Of The ESAIL Microsatellite | Ocean News & Technology". 2020-09-09. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  14. "ESAIL's first map of global shipping". Space Daily. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  15. "ESAIL Microsatellite Captures 2,000,000 Messages From 70,000 Ships at Sea in a Single Day". SciTechDaily. 2021-04-03. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  16. Kellner, Jonas (2021-04-27). "Rocket Factory Augsburg signs further launch contracts". Rocket Factory Augsburg. Retrieved 2025-11-24.
  17. "Rocket Factory Augsburg unterzeichnet weitere Startverträge". OHB SE (in German). Retrieved 2025-11-24.