Since 2010, the International Space Station has been equipped with a space-based AIS System receiver that allows it to track ships at sea from space. Since then, the system aboard the ISS has been receiving as many as 400,000 ship’s position reports from more than 22,000 different ships every day.
This video shows how this experimental system was used in 2012 to rescue a sole surviving crew member of a Norwegian vessel after it overturned in the North Atlantic during a storm.
For the technical, there’s details here on the scientific projects that the ISS is carrying out right now – click HERE. We say get a Digital Yacht or Digital Deep Sea AIS Transponder on board today – and an AIS SART too!
