Search and rescueSatellites help rescuers save 207 people last year

Thanks to the international network of search and rescue satellites, more than 200 people in remote locations in the United States were saved last year.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) satellites, which are part of the international Search and Rescue Satellite Aided Tracking System (COSPAS-SARSAT), are specifically tuned to distress signals from emergency beacons carried by shipwrecked boaters, stranded hikers, and downed pilots. When activated these beacons send out an SOS and beam their GPS coordinates.

Last year, in the United States, 207 people were rescued thanks to the technology - 122 people were pulled from the water, fourteen from aviation incidents, and seventy-one from land-based situations.

“With each rescue, this system performs the way it was intended — as a real, life-saving network,” said Chris O’Connors, the program manager for NOAA SARSAT.

When a distress beacon is activated, a NOAA satellite will pinpoint its location and send that information to the SARSAT Mission Control Center in Suitland, Maryland. Operators there will then transmit that data to the U.S. Air Force or Coast Guard, depending on if it is a water or land-based rescue.

COSPAS-SARSAT was launched in 1979 with the help of the United States, Canada, France, and the former Soviet Union. Since its creation, the satellites have been credited with facilitating more than 30,000 rescues around the world including more than 6,700 in the United States alone.

All emergency beacon owners are required to register their devices with NOAA, to help ensure faster response. In addition, owners are encouraged to provide as much information impossible including multiple ways to contact the owner, special medical needs, and how many people may need assistance. Currently NOAA has more than 329,000 registrations in its database.