The ISRO PSLV-C30 rocket, carrying exactView-9, launches from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India.
exactEarth Ltd. announced the successful launch on Sept. 28, 2015, of its exactView-9 (EV9) automatic identification system (AIS) satellite, expanding its global vessel-monitoring constellation to eight in-orbit satellites. The spacecraft was built by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory and launched from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota, India, aboard an Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) PSLV-C30 rocket.
EV9 orbits the equator every 97 minutes, providing expanded and detailed coverage to the world's busy tropical shipping regions.
The equatorial region contains some of the world's densest shipping areas, so it is essential to have a satellite AIS technology which can deliver high detection performance, said Philip Miller, vice president of Operations and Engineering at exactEarth. EV9, in combination with the other satellites in our constellation, allows us to deliver updates at least once per hour of vessel identity, location and a wide range of relevant maritime geospatial information to this strategically important region.
