Arvaker (N3X) maritime surveillance satellites
Kongsberg built this three-microsatellite series for Norway’s armed forces. The N3X constellation uses AIS receivers and navigation-radar detectors to track ships from low Earth orbit; all three reached orbit in 2025.
How can a small satellite find ships across an ocean? Arvaker listens to the radio introductions ships broadcast.
Norway’s Arvaker 1–3 microsatellites form the N3X maritime surveillance constellation. Public details are limited by its defense role; this page uses information from Norway’s armed forces and the manufacturers.
What is it?
In 2024, Norway’s armed forces contracted Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace to build the constellation using its subsidiary NanoAvionics’ MP42H platform.
A platform is the satellite’s body, supplying power, communications, attitude control, and thermal management. Different missions add their own sensors, like fitting different tools to a robot.
How does it find ships?
AIS receivers collect ship broadcasts containing identity, position, course, and speed across a wide area.
Other equipment detects navigation-radar signals. Combining sources improves maritime awareness, but observation time, weather, sensor capability, and whether ships transmit can affect results.
Why not just use coastal radar?
Coastal radar watches nearby waters continuously, but distant ships disappear beyond Earth’s curved horizon. Low-orbit satellites survey large offshore regions, though they cannot remain over one location, so several are needed.
Launches and orbits
Arvaker 1 launched on Transporter-13 on March 15, 2025. Arvaker 2 and 3 followed on Transporter-14 that June. They take turns crossing observation areas in low Earth orbit.
Did you know?
Arvaker is named after one of the two horses that pull the Sun’s chariot in Norse mythology. Its name now circles Earth on a spacecraft.
