which are used by crew members during extravehicular activity. This would provide an
additional space on the station to conduct passive experiments or collect data.
RESULTS
The 2 operational phases with the NORAIS receiver, which was operated by FFI/Norway, have
been extremely successful, with data telemetry received by the Norwegian User Support
Operations Center (N-USOC), in Trondheim, Norway, via ESA’s Columbus Control Centre in
Germany. Data has been received by NORAIS in almost continuous operation, and all modes of
operation have worked extremely well. On a good day, approximately 400,000 ship position
reports were received from more than 22,000 different ship identification numbers (Maritime
Mobile Service Identity, or MMSI).
The in-orbit data of the NORAIS Receiver v18 has been analyzed since and show very good
results.
As of March 2013, the Vessel Identification System acquired an extensive amount of data for
nearly 3 years since its installation in and on Columbus. Meanwhile, various service entities
have been asking to get access to the Vessel ID data, which is continuously acquired on
Columbus.
PUBLICATION(S)
Eriksen T, Nordmo Skauen A, Narheim B, Helleren O, Olsen O, Olsen R. Tracking ship
traffic with Space-Based AIS: Experience gained in first months of operations. 2010
International Waterside Security Conference (WSS), Carrara, Italy; November 3-5,
2010;1-8.
This investigation is ongoing and additional results are pending publication.