January 2005: a huge breaker smashes the bridge and radio equipment of a Spanish fishing vessel off the Ile d’Oléron on France’s Atlantic seaboard. The vessel’s Cospas-Sarsat beacon is triggered immediately, sending a distress signal detected in less than 10 minutes by a satellite in the Cospas-Sarsat constellation, and relayed to the control centre in Toulouse, where the vessel’s location is determined before alerting rescue services. The crew of 11 is quickly rescued, avoiding a human disaster.

Cospas-Sarsat, initiated in 1982, is an international search-and-rescue programme for mobiles at sea, in the air and on land anywhere on the globe. The system comprises a satellite constellation, orbiting the Earth continuously with the task of listening for signals emitted by distress beacons.

Rapid alerting and precise location of an aviation catastrophe or maritime emergency are essential in providing rescue assistance to the injured. They also reduce risks for search-and-rescue teams, and limit the costs of the operation. The Cospas-Sarsat system, a superb feat of engineering and an exemplary international cooperative programme, has saved thousands of lives since its launch.

Cospas-Sarsat currently uses ten satellites in orbit. On February 6, 2009, the American satellite NOAA-N' was launched from Vandenberg Air Force base, California, carrying the second 3^rd-generation Sarsat instrument. 

^{Last updated: March 2009}