Vesselsat2 is being integrated in the upper stage of the Long March 4B rocket

Yesterday, at 03:17 UTC, also the second Luxembourg-built satellite „VesselSat2“ was launched from the Chinese Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre on board a Long March 4B rocket  (Chang Zheng-4B – Y26) into a polar orbit. About 4 hours later, a first contact was established with the satellite through the LUXSPACE ground station at Redu, Belgium. Vesselsat2 was designed and built by LUXSPACE Sarl, an affiliate of OHB AG (Prime Standard, ISIN: DE0005936124) in only one year. The exclusive rights to use the data of the Automatic Identification System (AIS) payload belong to ORBCOMM Inc., a global supplier of satellite-based communication and data services.

Vesselsat2 weighs 28 kg and will be integrated into ORBCOMM’s  Next Generation (OG2) constellation of 18 AIS-enable satellites after an in-orbit test and checkout phase.

A first satellite, VesselSat1, was already launched in October 2011, is fully functional and has been integrated into the OG2 system and ORBCOMM’s Satellite AIS Service as well. The analysis of Vesselsat1 data has shown that it significantly outperforms prior space-based technologies.