Since the moment Malaysian Airlines flight MH370 was determined by authorities to have crashed into the Southern Ocean some 2000km south west of Perth, I’ve been asked the same question repeatedly: How can satellites help find the crash site?
The purpose of this blog is to acquaint the readers with some facts about the strengths and limitations of satellite imagery.
Several governments have come together to form a massive search operation using satellite imagery, search aircraft and naval vessels.
Satellites have a large footprint and they can cover large amounts of area in short amounts of time. If they do find some interesting objects in this imagery, the next task will be to deploy air and sea resources to confirm the sightings.
Satellite imagery provides the starting point – a useful place to gather compelling evidence.
Esri Australia 