French maritime surveillance provider Unseenlabs is set to expand its constellation with the launch of its 12th and 13th nanosatellites, marking the halfway point towards its goal of offering near-real-time maritime surveillance services by the end of 2025.

The satellites, BRO-12 and BRO-13 (Breizh Reconnaissance Orbiter), are scheduled to be integrated by German launch services provider Exolaunch and launched on a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of SpaceX’s Transporter 10 rideshare mission.

Unseenlabs’ CEO and cofounder Clement Galic stated that the company’s current network of 11 satellites can monitor and track signals from ships across the world’s oceans every four to six hours. The venture, which launched commercial services in 2019, has amassed a diverse clientele, including commercial and government customers.

The constellation provides valuable data on ship positions for insurance, traffic management, and fuel-saving purposes for commercial companies, while governments can utilize the satellites to track illegal activities such as smuggling. Unseenlabs’ satellites are capable of picking up passive radio frequencies from radars and other electronic systems on vessels, even if the vessels have turned off their Automatic Identification Systems.

The company aims to launch a total of six satellites in 2024, with a proposed constellation of 25 satellites. By the end of 2025, Unseenlabs expects to have around 20 satellites in the constellation, enabling a revisit time of around 30 minutes over the same area to enhance its services for real-time environmental monitoring, rapid response to maritime disasters, and live tracking of pollutant emissions.

Unseenlabs declined to provide further details about its upcoming launch plans.