sarsat for tracking payload deployed by tether we are interested in constructing a reentry vehicle to be deployed from a tether attached to an orbiting platform this will be a follow on to our succesful deployment of a kilometer tether on the march flight of seds small expendable deployment system which released an instrumented payload that reentered the earth s atmosphere and burned up over the west coast of mexico this time we want to make a payload that can be recovered we want to build it from off the shelf technology so as to do this as quickly and inexpensively as possible we want to be able to track the payload after it has deployed its parachute an idea we have is to put the same kind of radio beacon on it that is used with sarsats search and rescue satellites it would turn on with the opening of the parachute and aid in tracking these beacons are known in the marine industry as epirbs emergency position indicating radio beacon they are rugged they have to be to survive a ship wreck and cheap we have several questions what is the world authority regulating the use of sarsat beacons are there multiple authorites i e military and civilian what are the regulations regarding the use of sarsat signals can they be used for one of a kind situations with a long lead time of warning the relevant authorities or are they strictly reserved for life threatening emergencies what is the coverage of sarsats are they in leo with only intermittant coverage of a fixed position on the earth or are they in geosynchronous orbit is there an industry organization governing the use and manufacture of these transponders please post replies here or send e mail to me at fennell well sf ca us thanak you very much for any assistance you can provide mike fennell
