NOVI’s AI-Enabled SEED Payload Delivers Rapid Marine Vessel Detection from ISS
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 27, 2025
NOVI Space Inc. has demonstrated its AI-based object detection system operating onboard the International Space Station as part of the Space Edge Experiments and Demonstrations SEED payload. The SEED mission uses a flight-proven, radiation-tolerant On-Board Computer paired with a visible spectrum camera to detect marine vessels in real time.
The experiment, conducted for the Missile Defense Agency, took place on hardware delivered by the U.S. Space Force Space Systems Command and NASA via the STP-H10 mission. Five Department of Defense and one NASA science payloads were transported to the ISS during a recent resupply mission.
NOVI’s internally developed AI models identified and reported the presence and positions of a range of marine vessels, from small sailboats to container ships, with notification delivered to ground teams in as little as eight seconds. This system processes images and extracts relevant intelligence on-board, eliminating the delays and additional costs of downloading and analyzing raw imagery on the ground.
The SEED payload’s performance establishes a new model for rapid intelligence delivery from orbit. NOVI is preparing for the GENIE satellite constellation launch in early 2026 and is making a publicly available dataset of five full-sized images collected by SEED. Each image, acquired in the visible spectrum, covers roughly 16 by 16 kilometers at a ground sample distance near 3 meters. The dataset shows a range of geographic environments and is intended to support the development and testing of commercial AI models for NOVI’s forthcoming open-access platform.
Related Links
NOVI Space Inc.
Space Technology News – Applications and Research
