A new satellite network that was officially launched last week is meant to make it impossible for commercial airplanes to go missing, according to a new CBS report.
A SpaceX rocket last week delivered 10 satellites into orbit, the final part of an effort by Iridium Communications Inc. to replace its 66 old communication satellites with a new generation of technology, CBS reported.
Aireon announced today it has formally received control of the final six Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) payloads from Iridium Communications. Hosted on the Iridium® NEXT satellite constellation, Aireon’s space-based ADS-B system will deliver–for the first time in history–100 percent global, real-time surveillance of all ADS-B equipped aircraft.
For the first time, a new network of satellites will soon be able to track all commercial airplanes in real time, anywhere on the planet. Currently, planes are largely tracked by radar on the ground, which doesn’t work over much of the world’s oceans.
Ten spacecraft have launched from California to complete the $3bn refurbishment of the original satellite phone system, Iridium. A SpaceX Falcon rocket carried the platforms aloft. They will go live in the network in the coming weeks. The original Iridium constellation was put up in the late 90s to link calls to any location on the planet. This function will continue, but the new satellites carry some add-ons to support additional services. One is monitoring technology to surveil the movements of planes. The UK’s air traffic management company, NATS, and…
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