International Cospas-Sarsat Programme

This page provides a listing of orbitography/reference beacons which transmit on a permanent or semi‑permanent basis. These beacons are used for a variety of purposes, such as System monitoring as part of the Quality Management System (QMS), the updating of ephemeris data and monitoring of LUT performance. Amendments to this table may be made in accordance with section 1.4 of the document C/S A.001.

The same orbitography / reference beacon should not be used for both Doppler location accuracy assessment and orbit updates.

Cospas-Sarsat System Orbitography Beacons

Notes:

* This second French beacon has all the characteristics of an orbitography beacon, except the transmit frequency of 406.034 MHz, set to avoid interference with the Sarsat time calibration beacon. The beacon will be equipped by default with an LHCP antenna to support MEOSAR applications with the DASS proof-of-concept constellation.

** Indicates that this location was provided in the International Earth Rotation System (IERS) Terrestrial Reference Frame or ITRF-93. Other locations are provided in the Bureau International de l'Heure (BIH) Geodetic Reference System.

Cospas-Sarsat Reference Beacons

Notes:

* Indicates that this location has not yet been provided in the Bureau International de l'Heure (BIH) Geodetic Reference System

Reference beacons are beacons which are installed and operated on a semi-permanent basis. Users should consult the national MCC for current status information. These beacons may not meet the orbitography specifications. Reference beacons must meet the following requirements:

- be encoded with a test protocol; transmit with a repetition period of 50 + 2.5 sec and preferably be varied over that range; and
- transmit at 406.022 MHz + 1 kHz.