Nebula Public Library

The knowledge bank of ESA’s R&D programmes

Future Concepts for Galileo Search-and-Rescue Space and Ground Segment (Parallel a)

Programme
Discovery
Programme Reference
15/708-a
Contractor
Start Date
End Date
Country
Germany
Description

MEOSAR is a system designed to locate emergency beacons anywhere on the Earth in order to coordinate rescue efforts for people, vehicles and facilities in distress. It works by evaluating the time and the frequency of the beacon signal upon arrival at the receiver. From these the relative distance and velocity of the sender can be calculated if sufficient data points have been collected. It is beneficial to receive the beacon on several different spacecraft to optimise the accuracy of the trace.

Executive summary