NOAA satellites - helping save lives for 30 years

NOAA: Thirty years ago, about 300 miles off the coast of New England, a barrage of towering, 25-foot waves battered a catamaran sailboat, causing it to begin sinking. A satellite, orbiting in space, detected the signal from an emergency beacon onboard the boat. A short while later, a U.S. Coast Guard cutter pulled the three passengers to safety.
 
The Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking system, or Cospas-SARSAT, is celebrating the 30th anniversary of this first life-saving rescue in the United States, which occurred October 10, 1982. NOAA operates several satellites and the U.S. Mission Control Center as part of the international program that has been responsible for the rescue of more than 30,000 people worldwide and nearly 7,000 in the United States since its inception in 1982.

Cospas-SARSAT began as an effort between the United States, Canada, France and the former Soviet Union to establish a network of satellites, equipped with technology to detect and locate distress signals from emergency beacons onboard aircraft and ships, and later on from handheld personal locator beacons.

“Before SARSAT, there was no system to quickly find people who were in trouble whether they were sailing, went down in a plane crash, or if they were stranded in a remote area on a hiking trip,” said Chris O’Connors, NOAA SARSAT program manager. “Time after time NOAA satellites have made the difference between life and death thanks to this international program.”

Today, 43 countries and organizations around the world participate in the operation and management of the Cospas-SARSAT program, which includes a total of 12 satellites....

SARSAT overview from NOAA