Reply to post: Re: It is a salvage mission in international waters, China should take over the search

Australia releases MH370 sea floor data but search is still off

anothercynic Silver badge

Re: It is a salvage mission in international waters, China should take over the search

@oiseau, the planet is, opposed to popular belief, not blanketed by satellites. Yes, they might have paths crisscrossing the planet, but satellites are designed to keep their beams on station. Those beams point at specific places, and unfortunately, the southern Indian Ocean is not really the most popular of places (shipping routes continue to 'hug' the continents, flights usually run along routes that put them within reach of the archipelagos of the Seychelles, Mauritius and Reunion). The satellites that *do* cover the remote areas of ocean are primarily maritime comms satellites for maritime sat calls.

But, that said, MH370 forced ICAO to reevaluate how things are done, and developments with Iridium and Aereon *will* provide much better ADS-B coverage all over the planet (including those ocean backwaters). The industry is well aware that this flight going down has changed the game significantly, and if the opportunity presents itself to recover the recorders, evaluate them and come to a cause conclusion, it *will* be taken because the manufacturers, operators, and passengers will demand it.

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