Spire Global and Kleos Space announced on Tuesday that they will combine their capabilities to create a shared service that will help detect vessels operating illegally.

Spire, which opened a Luxembourg subsidiary in 2017, is a satellite-powered data company. It launched Spire Maritime in 2018 to work with automatic tracking system data for maritime activity. Kleos Space was established in Luxembourg to provide geolocation observation as a service for defence and rescue purposes. It launched its first satellite constellation, the Kleos Scouting Mission, in 2019.

The collaboration, expected to be effective before the end of 2019, means that Spire will include Kleos’ radio frequency data products along with its own capabilities to filter images of legal maritime activity.

“Spire Maritime shares a desire to illuminate parts of the world just as Kleos does,” said Spire Maritime general manager John Lusk in a press release, adding: “We continue to partner with the most innovative industry experts to create new access to highly relevant datasets for customers worldwide.”

Kleos Space CEO Andy Bowyer said that the combined capabilities will provide a service that is unprecedented in illegal maritime activity detection. “The collaboration on maritime security constitutes an efficient tool for governments, maritime agencies and any other organisation hoping to preserve the safety of our seas,” he wrote in a separate press release.

Luxembourg began developing newspace as a new sector for development in 2016 after the launch of the Spaceresources.lu initiative by the economy ministry. In 2018, it launched the Luxembourg Space Agency. Today, there are over 50 companies and institutions working on space-related activities in Luxembourg.