ExactEarth’s payloads will deliver maritime satellite AIS data. Photo: ExactEarth

[Via Satellite 01-18-2017] ExactEarth, provider of satellite Automatic Identification System (AIS) data services, has successfully launched four hosted payloads for its next generation constellation, exactVie RT powered by Harris. Launched on Jan. 14, aboard an Iridium Next satellite on SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, these hosted maritime payloads are now being commissioned and exactEarth expects them to be brought into service within the next four months. ExactView RT will offer a real-time ship tracking capability. Designed to provide significant improvements to current and future customers, the RT satellites will deliver improved vessel detection rates as well as instantaneous downlinking of AIS information, according to a statement released by the company. This will enable average global revisit rates of less than one minute with the company’s customers receiving data in real time. ExactView RT will consist of more than 60 payloads, including in-orbit spares, aboard the Iridium Next constellation, which is scheduled for completion in 2018.

The exactView RT system is the result of the agreement signed with Harris in June 2015, under which Harris deploys and operates the hosted payloads and exactEarth performs the ground-based data processing and has exclusive distribution rights for the data for all markets except the U.S. government.