Spire offers way to track ships even when they are trying to hide
The smallsat company Spire is now offering what it calls its ‘Dark Shipping’ and ‘Spoofing’ Detection” option, using its 100-satellite constellation to track ships even when they are trying to hide.
Spire says the new dark shipping detection solution taps into the company’s constellation of more than 100 satellites to provide near real-time global AIS [Automatic Identification System] message position validation to uncover suspicious activity and pinpoint a vessel without the need for an approximate location.
“For a long time, having the tools to accurately identify and track ships that are attempting to hide their activities or location has been the missing key to preventing sanctions evasion, illegal fishing, human trafficking and many more pressing societal issues,” said Peter Mabson, CEO, Spire Maritime.
Hat tip to Robert Pratt of Pratt on Texas, who emailed me this press release and noted that this was “just one example of how lower launch costs are driving new things most would not guess.”
To me, this is both good and bad. Spire’s tracking capability gets it another way to make money as well as to track illegal activity. It also allows governments another way to track everyone to keep them from doing anything the authorities dislike.
When we had a government that saw itself as the servant to the people, I would not be so worried about the latter. With our present corrupt government, misuse of this information by those in power is now a real concern.
The smallsat company Spire is now offering what it calls its ‘Dark Shipping’ and ‘Spoofing’ Detection” option, using its 100-satellite constellation to track ships even when they are trying to hide.
Spire says the new dark shipping detection solution taps into the company’s constellation of more than 100 satellites to provide near real-time global AIS [Automatic Identification System] message position validation to uncover suspicious activity and pinpoint a vessel without the need for an approximate location.
“For a long time, having the tools to accurately identify and track ships that are attempting to hide their activities or location has been the missing key to preventing sanctions evasion, illegal fishing, human trafficking and many more pressing societal issues,” said Peter Mabson, CEO, Spire Maritime.
Hat tip to Robert Pratt of Pratt on Texas, who emailed me this press release and noted that this was “just one example of how lower launch costs are driving new things most would not guess.”
To me, this is both good and bad. Spire’s tracking capability gets it another way to make money as well as to track illegal activity. It also allows governments another way to track everyone to keep them from doing anything the authorities dislike.
When we had a government that saw itself as the servant to the people, I would not be so worried about the latter. With our present corrupt government, misuse of this information by those in power is now a real concern.