Emergency Satellite Rescue System to Expand Its Coverage
The international emergency satellite rescue system is adding a second radio channel to extend its global coverage, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced Wednesday.
The system is operated cooperatively by Canada, France, the Soviet Union and the United States. It uses three Soviet and two U.S. satellites, equipped with Canadian and French instruments.
The system, known as SARSAT, for search and rescue satellite, tracks radio signals broadcast from emergency beacons and can relay the location of that signal back to a ground station. The system can tell rescuers the location of the person in distress within one to three miles.
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