East-West join to

Press, 2 June 1988, Page 37

East-West join to

save lives NZPA-Reuter ! Dublin East and West have joined forces and saved almost 1100 lives with a network of satellites that circle the globe to locate plane crashes and shipwrecks with pinpoint accuracy.

“It has the potential to serve all mankind,” a United States meteorologist, James Bailey, told an international communications conference

The space technology, which could revolutionise international air and sea rescue missions, was developed jointly by the United States, the Soviet Union, Canada and France. Four polar-orbiting satellites have been launched to listen for distress signals beamed out from ships and planes.

These are then bounced back to Earth where control computers can narrow the site of an accident down to a 20km radius.

Mr Bailey, reviewing the six-year-old satellite programme at the conference, said, “To date, the system has been credited with saving nearly 1100 lives” throughout the world.

"The need to improve search and rescue services has led to intense international interest in developing a global system using satellite technology." The satellites have been credited with saving scores of lives, ranging from Canadians who crash-landed in the wooded outback of British Columbia to American sailors stranded off Puerto Rico. i.