Media & Press Information

NOAA SARSAT Media/Brochures

Feel free to download these COSPAS-SARSAT brochures:

• • MEOSAR Overview
  • Search and Rescue – Global Positioning Satellite (SAR/GPS) System
  • Overview of the COSPAS-SARSAT System
  • Brochure on eliminating false alerts
  • Registration Brochure outlining why you need to register your 406 MHz beacon(s)
  • SARSAT Beacon Newsletter (2013)
  • SARSAT Beacon Newsletter (2012)
  • SARSAT Beacon Newsletter (2011)
  • False Alert Poster

NOAA SARSAT News & Press Releases

2023 Press Releases

• • 23 Jan 2023: NOAA satellites helped save 397 lives in 2022
  • 10 Feb 2023: Spectrum News NOAA Weather Satellites Help Rescue Hundreds Lost At Sea
  • 19 Feb 2023: The Weather Channel interview with Lt. Marisa Gedney (part 1)
  • 19 Feb 2023: The Weather Channel interview with Lt. Marisa Gedney (part 2)

2022 Press Releases

• • 31 Jan 2022: NOAA satellites helped save 330 lives in 2021
  • 22 Feb 2022: 52 lives saved in FL in 2021
  • 06 Apr 2022: SARSAT 406 Day 2022
  • 14 Jun 2022: Wired Magazine How Lost Hikers Can Send an SOS to Space
  • 29 Jun 2022: Cody Enterprise Rescue Story in Wyoming
  • 22 Nov 2022: Celebrating 40 Years of SARSAT

2019 Press Releases

• • 19 Jul 2019: Pilot’s Guide to Avionics

2018 Press Releases

• • 08 Feb 2018: NOAA satellites aid in the rescue of 275 lives in 2017
  • 06 Apr 2018: #406DAY18 NOAA SARSAT
  • 06 Apr 2018: Civil Air Patrol #406DAY18 Focuses on Emergency Beacons
  • 06 Apr 2018: Weather Nation TV 406 MHz Beacon Awareness Day 2018
  • 06 Apr 2018: GCaptain Happy #406DAY18
  • 07 May 2018: SARSAT, Coast Guard, AMVER and bulker rescue sailors near Puerto Rico

2017 Press Releases

• • 19 Jan 2017: NOAAsatellites helped save 307 lives in 2016
  • 29 Mar 2017: AOPA.org New Eye in the Sky: Search and Rescue gets a boost with GPS link
  • 06 Apr 2017: Gcaptain.com Register your beacon on 406MHz day
  • 06 Apr 2017: NOAA Satellites Facilitate Rescues on Land on Sea
  • 20 Jul 2017: NOAA Satellite Search and Rescue Program, SARSAT to talk about Preventing False Alerts at EAA AirVenture 2017 in Oshkosh, WI

2016 Press Releases

• • 06 Apr 2016: Beacon Awareness Day

2015 Press Releases

• • 29 Jan 2015: NOAA satellites help in the rescue of 240 people last year
  • 21 Jul 2015: NOAA SARSAT (PGCTV Ch. 76)
  • 30 Jul 2015: Search expands for 2 Florida teens missing at sea as hope wanes (Today Show)
  • 30 Jul 2015: July 30th EPIRB devices flying off shelves at West Marine, leads Coast Guard directly to distressed boater (WPTV 5)
  • 31 July 2015: Multiple Media Events Highlight Importance and Effectiveness of SARSAT

2014 Press Releases

• • 01 Oct 2014: NASA Crashes Helicopters to Study Survivability of Emergency Locator Transmitters
  • 23 May 2014: Coast Guard Demonstrates PLB Aided Rescue in Great Lakes
  • 24 Apr 2014: MEOSAR Webinar
  • 11 Feb 2014: Lifesaving rescue mission directed from 23,000 miles above the Earth
  • 17 Jan 2014: NOAA satellites helped save 261 people last year

2013 Press Releases

• • 20 Dec 2013: A spike in false alerts from EPIRBS caused by improper disposal
  • 20 Dec 2013: NOAA SARSAT Office Changes Address for Beacon Registrations
  • 21 Oct 2013: SARSAT aids in rescue of  5 on the Bering Sea
  • 03 Sep 2013: Rescue 406 Game Application for iPhone
  • 15 Jan 2013: NOAA satellites aid in 263 rescues in 2012 after detecting distress signals
  • 08 May, 2013: Man with medical emergency rescued by Coast Guard off Kitty Hawk, NC
  • 20 February, 2013: FCC ENFORCEMENT ADVISORY
  • 17 January, 2013: AUDIO WNEW 99.1 today

All media inquiries on the Cospas-Sarsat Program and/or NOAA can be directed to: 

Mr. John Leslie
NOAA Public Affairs 
SSMC-1 
1335 East-West Highway, #7411 
Silver Spring, Md. 20910 
Phone: 301-713-2087
email: John.Leslie@noaa.gov

Media Synopsis:

Satellite Based Search and Rescue:  The International Cospas-Sarsat Program

The Commerce Department’s National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) operates a series of satellites in low-earth and geostationary orbits to detect and locate aviators, mariners and land-based users in distress. The satellites, along with a network of ground stations, and the U.S. Mission Control Center in Suitland, MD are part of the International Cospas-Sarsat Program, whose mission is to relay distress signals to the international search and rescue community. 

Emergency beacons are used to transmit distress signals on the 406 MHz frequency to a constellation of Cospas-Sarsat satellites (and transmit low-power 121.5 MHz signals for close-range homing). Ground stations track these satellites and process the 406 MHz distress signals to obtain a location (using Doppler-Locating technology) of the distress. The processed information is then forwarded to a Mission Control Center where it is combined with other location and registration information and passed to the appropriate search and rescue authorities. Alternatively, some beacons operating at the 406 MHz frequency can use the Global Positioning System (GPS) to obtain a very accurate position. This position can then be transmitted as part of the distress signal.

The Cospas-Sarsat program is operated in the United States by NOAA, the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Air Force and NASA. Since the inception of the system in 1982, over 24,500 lives have been rescued worldwide and over 6,000 lives have been rescued in the United States.