Mysteries like MH370 will never happen again thanks to new satellite network
“Unable to disappear” is what scientists hope will be the capabilities of a new global network of tracking satellites to be completed by 2020.
From 1948 to 2014, 85 planes have disappeared without a trace. Most recently, the mystery of MH370 has never cooled down...
To solve this problem, a network of high-tech satellites could save hundreds of passenger lives by making it impossible for commercial planes to disappear.
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A new satellite network will help track commercial aircraft around the world in real time. |
A £2.3bn satellite network will soon be able to track every commercial flight in real time, anywhere on the planet. It is designed to prevent a repeat of the tragedy of flight MH370, which disappeared in March 2014 with 239 people on board.
The last 10 Iridium Next satellites were launched into space a few days ago, bringing the total number of satellites in the network to 75. American aerospace technology company Aireon promises that this tool will create a big step forward in the way we track planes.
Flights are currently tracked by ground-based radars, which, however, do not operate over most of the world's oceans, making it easy to lose a plane if it crashes.
“Seventy percent of the world’s airspace is unsurveiled. Planes fly over oceans and report their positions back to air traffic control every 10 to 15 minutes at best, and in between those intervals, no one knows where they are,” said Aireon CEO Don Thoma.
There are typically up to 16,000 flights in the air at any one time, and most are tracked by radar and loaded with a GPS device.
With the new satellite network, GPS transmitters will link with Iridium satellites, providing real-time location continuously instead of 15 minutes.
"With the Iridium-Aireon system, every aircraft is within the control of the air traffic controller, so no matter what happens to that aircraft, we know within seconds where that aircraft is," said Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium.
Iridium has now completely replaced the 66 outdated satellites it launched in the mid-1990s. The full aircraft tracking network will be fully operational by 2020.
