Ships detected by AISSat-1

In 2010, the Norwegian Space Centre launched the AISSat-1 nanosatellite to demonstrate the detection of AIS signals, supported by ESA’s GSTP and Prodex programmes.

The colour code shows how many times each ship has been observed by AISSat-1 during the observation period of 24 hours (red->yellow: fewer observations, green->blue: more observations).

In areas with heavy maritime traffic the number of messages sent by ships can be so high that they jam the satellite receiver.