Shining a spotlight on maritime dark traffic

The ability to support Maritime Domain Awareness from space using Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) has been successfully demonstrated in the past, however practical challenges in achieving the necessary area coverage, temporal coverage and spatial resolution for a practical system has eluded wider adoption. Yet demand for Maritime Surveillance has increased in recent years, to protect important maritime energy and communications infrastructure, fisheries and maritime reserves, and especially for national security.

A novel approach to the SAR payload design solves these challenges, and smallsat technologies have also matured to the point where a High-Resolution Wide-Swath (HRWS) system can be implemented within a modest satellite form factor in a constellation, with the ability to routinely cover large, strategically important maritime areas. The HRWS minisatellites will have the ability to fit within the Falcon-9 XL launch slot, delivering with 0.5x3m resolution in strips of up to 400x4000km. Extending this to a constellation would allow large areas to be monitored continuously, leading to more efficient use of maritime and aerial assets as they would be directed at specific areas of interest.

This paper provides an overview of the first HRWS spacecraft which is contracted and in production for launch in 2027, alongside an overview of the HRWS constellation and its capabilities.