This programme has been produced by the French Space Agency CNES and focuses on two space systems developed under the leadership of CNES: SARSAT for localising and rescuing ships at sea, and ARGOS for localising mobile objects in remote locations, and collecting data from them.
Both systems have been in successful operation since many years, and they have helped to save many lives of people in distress. Argos terminals can be so small that they fit on birds, giving us information on wildlife.
The 8-minute A-roll contains split audio with an English guide track, including sound bites with the CLS Argos mission director.

SARSAT : Rescuing ships at sea
Start program : TC 10.00.00
This sailor is in luck. He is in trouble near the coast and the sea is calm. He will quickly receive assistance and be towed to the nearest harbour.
Sometimes, though, accidents and equipment failures happen in severe weather miles from anywhere, where there are no normal means of communication.
In cases like this, only one space system offers the coverage needed to receive and locate distress signals anywhere on the globe: COSPAS-SARSAT. The COSPAS-SARSAT programme aims to locate ships by satellite. It is also used to locate aircraft and land mobiles in distress.
This is how COSPAS-SARSAT works. Somebody in trouble activates an emergency radio beacon that emits a signal. This signal is received and pre-processed by satellite-borne instruments. The satellites downlink the signal to ground receiving stations distributed evenly around the globe. It is then relayed to control centres such as the one in Toulouse, France. Today, there are