For years now, I've been reading that emergency beacon receivers on medium earth orbit satellites (GPS/Galileo/GLONASS satellites) will improve the detection time of PLBs/EPIRB distress signals, a capability referred to as MEOSAR.
According to the NOAA page (
MEOSAR) ), there has been some limited capability since 2016.
However, as of last December, four years later, I'm told the system is still not at "Full Operational Capability":
MEOLUTs update bringing the Medium Earth...apability (FOC) Can someone comment on the current and expected status of the MEOSAR system?
All the pages I've seen refer to this as a capability that "will be coming" (e.g.,
MEOSAR knowledge center )