[Satellite TODAY 02-19-10] Com Dev data services subsidiary exactEarth signed a $1.4 million contract with the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to provide space-based Automatic Identification System (S-AIS) data collected by its AIS nanosatellite (NTS), exactEarth announced Feb. 18.
    Under the the contract, exactEarth will provide datasets from its exactAIS service to be captured at times and locations specified by the CSA through March 31. The data will be used by Canadian government departments to supplement other sources of maritime information and be used to develop and evaluate operational plans for the use of S-AIS data.
    “When our exactAIS service becomes operational later this year, it will be based on a constellation of larger 100-kilogram-class microsatellites. Our early successes with NTS have also demonstrated that even 10-kilogram-class nanosatellites can serve as operational assets that offer utility for certain applications,” exactEarth President Peter Mabson said in a statement.
   Launched in April 2008, the NTS nanosatellite gathers data on global maritime traffic.

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