BENGALURU: ON ALARM ISRO Satellite Aided Telemetry, Tracking and Command Network (ISTRAC) Mission Control Center SAR (Search and Rescue) started at 12.20 pm on Tuesday in Bengaluru. The distress signal was from a beacon on the Pawan Hans helicopter, which was forced to make an emergency landing at sea more than 100 km off the Mumbai coast.
In six minutes – at exactly 12.26 a.m. – an Indian satellite detected the helicopter and sent the information back to the controls with specific details of its location, which was then transmitted to the rescue teams, who hurried to rescue all nine passengers. worked with. But four of them later died.
The six-minute operation by ISRO on Tuesday is not a sporadic incident. Satellite-based search and rescue services provided by the space agency have helped save more than 2,350 people involved in 164 incidents since 1991, while 231 have lost their lives despite efforts.
These include incidents involving seven surrounding countries – Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Maldives, Seychelles and Tanzania – that ISRO supports.
India is a member of the International Cospas-Sarsat Program (a global satellite-assisted search and rescue initiative) to provide distress alert and position location services through the Low Earth Orbit Search and Rescue (LEOSAR) and Geostationary Orbit SAR (GEOSAR) satellite systems. is a member.
“ISRO joined COSPAS-SARSAT in the 1990s and started providing services to maritime and aviation users and individuals in distress. Access is provided to all states on a non-discriminatory basis, and to end users. Since its inception, the Indian Mission Control Center of ISRO (INMCC) has contributed in saving over 2,300 lives in the Indian Mission Control service sector,” ISTRAC director BN Ramakrishna told TOI.
A source said personnel from the Indian Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard – whose teams eventually carry out the rescue operation – are given periodic orientation and training at ISTRAC in Bengaluru to help them carry out the SAR. does.
how it works
INMCC consists of a Mission Control Center (MCC), Local User Terminal (LUT) and Beacon Registration Database service.
All Indian users of beacons are required to register their beacons on the INMCC website hosted by ISTRAC for personal information as well as their beacons to be used by Rescue Coordination Centers for rescue operations. So far, 1,048 Indian users have registered 18,501 beacons.
According to ISTRAC, signals are received from these distress beacons classified by the INMCC into three categories: emergency location transmitters (ELTs) for aviation use; Emergency position indicating Radio Beacons (EPIRBs) for Marine Use and Personal Locator Beacons (PLBs) for Personal Use.
Beacons operate at 406 MHz frequency and detect the signals transmitted by them to SAR payloads on satellites in low altitude orbits, geostationary orbits and medium altitude orbits.
Ground receiving stations – local user terminals – are spread around the world and receive and process satellite downlink signals to generate distress alerts. A network of MCCs established around the world is then used to broadcast distress alerts and location information to SAR officials.
Ramakrishna said the INMCC has a major role in providing distress alert information to the SAR Points of Contacts (SPOCs) of the seven neighboring countries. “INMCC receives distress alert data relating to these countries through LUTs and other MCCs. These alerts are transmitted to their respective rescue coordination centres.”
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