Galileo Search and Rescue Payload Tested in Space

The Galileo SAR signal measured by Redu tracking station.

The Galileo SAR signal measured by ESA Redu Centre  (Credits: ESA).

The Galileo search and rescue (SAR) package has been successfully tested for the first time, marking a significant expansion of the COSPAS-SARSAT program, a satellite-based network designed to bring help to air and sea vessels in distress.

“The first day was a matter of turning the repeater on and checking its temperature and power profiles were as predicted,”  Said Igor Stojkovic, ESA’s Galileo SAR engineer, explaining the test.  “The following day involved sending a signal to the repeater using the UHF antenna at ESA’s Redu Centre in Belgium, then picking up the reply from our L-band antenna.”

The second couple of Galileo satellites, launched aboard a Soyuz rocket from Kourou on October 12, 2012, are the first of the European constellation of navigation satellites to host a SAR payload.  SAR repeaters on the satellites can acquire UHF signals emitted from emergency beacons aboard ships, aircraft, or even carried by individuals.  Ground stations, known as Local User Terminals, locate the source of distress calls using signals relayed by participating satellites and then alert local authorities for rescue.

For 30 years the Cospas–Sarsat system has used orbital transponders on satellites to pick up distress calls from ships, aircraft and individuals (Credits: Cospar-Sarsat)

For 30 years the COSPAS–SARSAT system has used orbital transponders on satellites to pick up distress calls from ships, aircraft and individuals (Credits: COSPAS-SARSAT).

 

The test campaign started on the third Galileo satellite in orbit, on January 17.  The Redu’s 10 meter radius antenna was able to precisely measure the shape of the relayed signal, the power and the time taken by the relay.

COSPAS-SARSAT is an international program by Canada, France, US, and USSR started in 1979.  COSPAS is a Russian acronym for “Space System for the Search of Vessels in Distress”, with SARSAT standing for “Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking”.

The system has saved about 31 000 lives in about 8000 SAR events distributed over more than 30 years

The video below shows a brief overview of the COSPAS-SARSAT system:

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