I am designing a CubeSat. The size is yet to be decided as it is based on the sensor. The mission is maritime surveillance (illegal fishing). The payload should be capable of detecting the vessels. The operation should not be interrupted by the time of the day (Meaning, the payload detection capability should be active both during day & night). It should not be interrupted by the weather. Based on these constraints, the only options for the sensor are an active optical sensor or the SAR sensor. I cannot go with a SAR sensor as my orbit is a circular 12-degree inclined LEO orbit and so it will go through ~45 minutes of eclipse each orbit making continuous solar power impossible. Is there any laser sensor that I can use for this purpose? Or any other optical sensor that would be suitable here? Kindly please advise.
EDIT:
This is my course project however, I need to design it using the realtime subsystems/payloads.
Thanks everyone for the response. Some of the points I would like to highlight here. uuv & Leonardo are based on AIS data. We have been intrigued about what if the AIS radio on the boat/ship is turned off as they intend to do illegal fishing.
Also, with respect to my project, my satellite sensor intends to do only the surveillance on the particular region of the sea. So, If I use the ADCS attitude sensors, would I have the ability to turn on SAR only for the region needed and when the satellite went past that area if the SAR sensor is turned off, can the power be an issue?? Can this (SAR sensor turn ON/OFF) be even done?
Also, this is not a single satellite. I am designing a 3 x constellation of satellites to assess that particular area for better coverage and decent revisit rate.