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Aviation
ChinaScience

China tests superfast aircraft-tracking satellite that could prevent another MH370 tragedy

  • The Beihang Kongshi 1 satellite can update the status of an aircraft every eight seconds, about twice as fast as American technology
  • Still at an experimental stage, the technology could lead to a global tracking system enabling airlines to locate a plane from space

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The Beihang Kongshi 1 satellite could allow global air traffic to be tracked from space. Photo: Tianyi Research Institute
Stephen Chen
A Chinese satellite has tested a technology that could offer the most accurate means yet of tracking air traffic from space, in the hope of preventing repeats of the Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 tragedy.
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Each aircraft in the sky emits a radio signal, and constantly monitoring all planes over a large area is technically challenging. But Beihang Kongshi 1, a small satellite in near-Earth orbit, can update the status of an aircraft every eight seconds – about twice as fast as American technology, meaning the tracking is more accurate – state-run Science and Technology Daily reported on Thursday.

Launched last November, Beihang Kongshi 1’s new radio surveillance technology and hardware, some of it being used in space for the first time, achieved results that suggested it worked “quite well”, according to the report.

The project is still at an experimental stage, but could lead to a global tracking system involving “hundreds of satellites”, the report said. That would enable airlines to quickly locate a plane even if it lost contact.

03:43

Five years on, families of missing MH370 passengers still seek answers

Five years on, families of missing MH370 passengers still seek answers

Ground traffic controllers lost contact with Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014. Years of efforts failed to find the plane, which had 227 passengers and 12 crew members on board. After the tragedy, there was an increase in interest in tracking air traffic from above the sky.

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