WEBVTT

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Intro music.

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Saving lives is one of the unique and important missions of NASA and NOAA's polar-orbiting satellites.

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The Search and Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking system, called SARSAT, is part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Association's

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satellite payload. Tracking instruments on the NOAA satellites and other international satellites are used to pick up

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emergency beacons set off by people in distress. When aviators, mariners, or hikers in trouble set off a beacon, a signal

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is transmitted to a satellite orbiting overhead. That signal is immediately relayed to a global network of

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emergency coordination centers on Earth. In turn, the appropriate rescue force is sent to the exact location of distress.

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Although other means of communication are available, there have been times when these devices haven't worked,

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according to David Affens, NASA search and rescue mission manager.

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Affens describes a situation where a ship being tossed about in stormy weather, within miles of the coast was saved because of SARSAT.

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"Cell phones, VHF radios and all the other stuff that people assume will save your life did not function.

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And because of SARSAT was the only means of alerting the rescue authorities. In that one rescue we saved over 90 people."

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Affens is quick to point out that SARSAT provides a tool that helps emergency centers locate and save people in trouble

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anywhere on the planet, whether on land or sea. "Our goal is to take the search out of search and rescue."

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SARSAT's global system, and the courageous Search and Rescue people who make these rescues, have saved about 18,000 lives

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since it became operational in 1982. NOAA-N soon will join a host of other polar and geostationary Earth-observing satellites

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developed by NASA to monitor the planet's atmosphere and weather. The satellite, carried on a Delta II rocket,

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launches from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in May.

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