Galileo 11 and 12 lifted off together at 11:51 GMT (12:51 CET, 08:51 local time) atop a Soyuz rocket from French Guiana.
“With today’s launch, Europe has doubled the number of its Galileo satellites in orbit in just nine months,” commented the Director General of ESA.
Read more here:
http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Navigation/The_future_-_Galileo/Launching_Galileo/Galileo_s_dozen_12_satellites_now_in_orbit
EPIRBs can be set off by vibrations, so they are usually mounted to the wall of a boat, which minimises this.
AMSA said EPIRBS should be placed in a mounting bracket or a grab bag with flares and other safety equipment.
Read more here:
http://www.coffscoastadvocate.com.au/news/westpac-helicopter-tasked-after-distress-beacon-in/2872074/
A new MEOSAR satellite ground station was completed near Tuapo, New Zealand in November.
The new ground station, along with a similar receiving station in Western Australia that began construction in 2014 will be commissioned for use in the next year, boosting SARSAT coverage in the Southern Hemisphere.
The chances of a satellite being in line of sight of beacons will greatly increase as the number of MEOSAR satellites orbiting the Earth continues to rise.
Maritime New Zealand will now enter a period of testing for the site, after which Cospas-Sarsat will consider data from the ground station to ensure it meets appropriate standards and approve it as part of the global network.
Read more here:
http://www.satellitetoday.com/technology/2015/12/03/new-zealand-australia-step-to-forefront-of-new-satellite-search-and-rescue-system/
JRCC received an alert with suspect position data from an Australian EPIRB that had previously been owned by another user.
Aircraft reported hearing the beacon, and a search and rescue plane investigated, soon joined by a helicopter and vessel already helping in the search for a missing kite surfer.
The helicopter sighted four people in the water wearing life jackets, and all were subsequently recovered by the diverted rescue vessel.
Read more and view video footage here:
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/30226062/four-rescued-after-wave-capsizes-cruiser/
JRCC Australia received a detection of a GPS-enabled distress beacon in the Mornington Peninsular region of Victoria.
A rescue helicopter and two volunteer boats were tasked and upon arrival located an upturned boat with two survivors.
The helicopter then winched them to safety about an hour after the first detection of the beacon and confirmed that they were uninjured.
The beacon’s GPS meant that a location was provided to the JRCC sooner, resulting in a more timely rescue.
Read more here:
http://www.9news.com.au/national/2015/11/29/19/40/pair-of-crayfish-divers-rescued-from-rough-seas-off-the-mornington-peninsula
On 11 December 2015 at 16:45 Moscow time a meteorological satellite Elektro-L No. 2 was successfully launched from the Baikonur launch site.
In addition, Cospas-Sarsat SAR payload is installed on-board Elektro-L No.2.
Source: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/12/zenit-swansong-elektro-l-launch/
A boater in Darwin, Australia was lucky to be found by a passerby after activating an obsolete 121.5 MHz distress beacon, phased out since 2009.
Were another boat not passing by, he might not have been so lucky, as 121.5 MHz signals can only be detected by nearby aircraft.
Beacon owners are urged to appropriately dispose of obsolete 121.5 MHz beacons and upgrade to a 406 MHz beacon.
Read more here:
https://www.amsa.gov.au/media/documents/11112015_AMSA_Media_Release_Expired_Beacons.pdf
RCC New Zealand coordinated the rescue of a burning Papua New Guinea fishing ship that activated its EPIRB north of Tokelau, halfway between New Zealand and Hawaii.
The U.S. Coast Guard sent a C130 helicopter from Honolulu to investigate, and RCCNZ located a nearby fishing vessel registered in the Marshall Islands to effect the rescue.
U.S. Coast Guard footage of ship sinking in Pacific Ocean:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLGRPffUsJE
Read more here:
http://www.maritimenz.govt.nz/news/media-releases-2015/20151025a.asp
Video shot by the Coast Guard shows the Frenchman on the rigging pole near the bow of his sailboat, riding wave after wave until making a dramatic leap over the railing of the Tor Viking.
View footage here: https://www.dvidshub.net/video/429231/coast-guard-monitors-rescue-mariner-400-miles-south-cold-bay-alaska#.VktK63arT3m
The Frenchman had his cat tucked inside his clothing when he made the daring leap of faith onto the Alaskan rescue ship.
Read more here: http://www.cbsnews.com/news/frenchman-cat-make-daring-leap-onto-ship-off-alaska/
On 6 October the Brazilian MCC received an unlocated ELT distress message alert.
The aircraft was registered in their database, so they were quickly able to contact the owner who informed them the plane went down after takeoff from his farm’s airfield near Coxim, Mato Grosso do Sul.
A SAR unit was dispatched to the incident location and found a badly damaged aircraft and its three injured passengers.
The survivors were taken for treatment, but the third passenger’s injuries were severe and unfortunately he died in hospital.
