Jane Edwards
Spire Global and Ursa Space Systems have teamed up to merge their capabilities and help U.S. federal agency clients track illegal activity in the maritime domain.
Spire will provide automatic identification system data and combine it with synthetic aperture radar imagery sourced by Ursa Space to help detect and monitor “dark” ships that may be involved in illegal fishing, piracy and other illicit behavior, the companies said in a joint release published Tuesday.
“Illegal maritime activity has far-reaching implications on national security, economics, human rights and more – but for a long time it was hard to prevent due to the lack of transparency on the open oceans,” said Chuck Cash, vice president of federal sales at Spire.
He noted that the partnership seeks to demonstrate how space-derived data could help improve life on Earth.
Spire can track ships in real time by detecting AIS signals from more than 280,000 vessels. Ursa Space provides customers insights into Earth’s physical changes by leveraging commercial satellite constellations and data fusion capabilities.
“The complementary nature of AIS data and SAR imagery plays a major role in detecting and preventing illegal maritime activity,” added Cash.
