Cospas-Sarsat

The International Cospas-Sarsat Programme is a satellite-aided search and rescue (SAR) initiative. It is organized as a treaty-based, nonprofit, intergovernmental, humanitarian cooperative of 45 nations and agencies (see infobox). It is dedicated to detecting and locating emergency locator radio beacons activated by persons, aircraft or vessels in... distress, and forwarding this alert information to authorities that can take action for rescue. Member countries operate a constellation of around 66 satellites orbiting the Earth which carry radio receivers capable of locating an emergency beacon anywhere on Earth transmitting on the Cospas-Sarsat frequency of 406 MHz. Distress alerts are detected, located and forwarded to over 200 countries and territories at no cost to beacon owners or the receiving government agencies. The definitive agreement of the organization was signed by those four States as the "Parties" to the agreement on 1 July 1988. The term Cospas-Sarsat derives from COSPAS (), an acronym from the transliterated Russian " " (Latin script: "Cosmicheskaya Sistema Poiska Avariynyh Sudov"), meaning "Space System for the Search of Vessels in Distress", and SARSAT, an acronym for "Search And Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking".Read More