France and India to build the world’s first space-based ship automatic identification system
France and India are joining forces to create the world’s first space-based automatic identification system (AIS) to track merchant ships on a real-time basis.
Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales and K Sivan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organisation, have signed an agreement to start development and production of a constellation of satellites for the ship tracking project, which will potentially revolutionise shipping.
“The system will cover a wide belt across the globe, benefiting a broad range of French economic interests. With a revisit capability making it possible to task acquisitions several times a day, it will also be able to detect oil slicks and trace their origin,” CNES said in a statement.
