Japan team builds satellite system to detect 'ghost ships'
Japan's latest satellite technology is taking on "ghost ships," vessels used by countries like Russia, Iran, and North Korea to dodge international sanctions.
These ships try to hide by turning off their trackers or swapping flags, but a team from Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, JAXA, and the University of Tokyo has built a system that can actually find them from space.
AIRIS on RAISE-4 finds hidden ships
The new setup uses an AI called AIRIS on the RAISE-4 satellite. It scans ocean images in real time, picking out ship shapes even when they're trying to stay hidden.
Only the important information (like cropped images and coordinates) gets sent back to Earth fast, making it way easier to track these elusive vessels.
System tackles maritime monitoring challenges
This technology tackles some tough challenges in maritime monitoring, like messy ocean conditions and slow data transmission.
By catching ghost ships, it could make ship detection and tracking a lot more effective.