COSPAS-SARSAT DICTIONARY

• AFRCC = U.S. Air Force Rescue Coordination Center located at Tyndall AFB in Panama City, FL.
• AMVER = Automated Mutual Assistance Vessel Rescue System...a U.S. Coast Guard program that constantly tracks thousands of merchant vessels worldwide. These vessels have volunteered to respond to calls for rescue or assistance from other vessels or people in distress.
• CAP = Civil Air Patrol...a network of volunteers that conduct SAR operations. (usually under the direction of the AFRCC)
• COSPAS = Cosmicheskaya Systyema Poiska Avariynich Sudov...loosely translated from the Russian language, this means "space system for the detection of vessels in distress."
• ELT = Emergency Locator Transmitter
• EPIRB = Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon
• FAA = Federal Aviation Administration....the U.S. agency charged with overseeing aviation safety.
• FSS = Flight Service Station....facilities interspersed throughout the U.S. that provide flight planning and emergency assistance to aircraft
• GEOSAR = Geostationary Search and Rescue (also see LEOSAR).
• GOES = Geostationary Orbiting Environmental Satellite…Geostationary satellite system that carries the SARP (see below for SARP definition).
• GSFC = Goddard Space Flight Center located in Greenbelt, Maryland
• ICAO = International Civil Aviation Organization
• IMO = International Maritime Organization
• INMARSAT = International Mobile Satellite Organization
• LEO = Low Earth Orbiter…polar-orbiting satellite, much closer to Earth than GOES (also see POES).
• LEOSAR = Low Earth Orbiting Search and Rescue (also see GEOSAR).
• LUT = Local User Terminal
• MCC = Mission Control Center
• NASA = National Aeronautics and Space Administration
• NESDIS = National Environmental Satellite Data and Information Service...the branch of NOAA responsible for operation of U.S. environmental and weather satellites.
• NOAA = National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
• NSARC = National Search and Rescue Committee
• OSE = Operational Support Equipment...the mobile LUT stationed at the USMCC.
• PLB = Personal Locator Beacon
• POES = Polar Orbiting Environmental Satellite...LEO satellite system that carries SARSAT instruments called SARR and SARP. Satellites also known as NOAA, METSAT and TIROS.
• RCC = Rescue Coordination Center
• SAR = Search and Rescue
• SARP = Search and Rescue Processor...the instrument carried onboard SARSAT satellites that receives, processes and stores 406 MHz beacon signals.
• SARR = Search and Rescue Repeater...the instrument carried onboard SARSAT satellites that receives and retransmits 406 MHz signals and transmits the processed data from the SARP.
• SARSAT = Search And Rescue Satellite-Aided Tracking
• SEDL = System Evaluation and Development Laboratory...LUT at NASA-GSFC used for SARSAT research and development and on-orbit testing of SARSAT satellites.
• SSE = System Support Equipment...the LUT co-located at the USMCC that is used to test and monitor system modifications.
• USAF = United States Air Force
• USCG = United States Coast Guard
• USMCC = United States Mission Control Center...located in Suitland, Maryland (just outside Washington, D.C.)