After the European Space Agency (ESA) turned on the search and rescue (SAR) package on its Galileo Navigation Satellite, it has successfully cleared its first space test, which marks an important expansion of the COSPAS-SARSAT program — a satellite-based network designed to help air and sea vessels in distress.
ESA’s Galileo SAR Engineer Igor Stojkovic elaborated on how the space test was done, saying: “The first day was a matter of turning the repeater on and checking its temperature and power profiles were as predicted. 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 batch of Galileo satellites, sent on October 12, 2012 aboard a Soyuz rocket from Kourou, are known to be the first of the European constellation of navigation satellites to host a SAR system. The satellites SAR repeaters have the capability to acquire UHF signals casted from emergency beacons aboard aircrafts, ships, or even ones carried by individuals. Meanwhile, ground stations known as Local User Terminals, locate the source of distress calls with the use of signals transmitted by participating satellites, and then alert local authorities for rescue.
On January 17, the test campaign begun on the third Galileo satellite in orbit. The ten meter radius antenna of Redu was able to accurately measure the shape of the transmitted signal, the power and the time taken by the relay.
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