ISRO can't use satellites to locate missing AN-32

The search for IAF's aircraft AN-32 which went missing with 29 persons on board on July 22, is a "different case" as signals from under ocean aircraft do not reach up to space, ISRO Chairman AS Kiran Kumar said today.

"What you have to appreciate is that what a satellite does is, it picks up radio signals from a beacon. Those (air craft) which are carrying those beacons, if any accident occurs, it starts sending signals. The problem what you are talking about it, once an aircraft goes into the ocean and gets inside, none of the signals can reach space. That's the problem," Kiran Kumar told reporters after the successful launch of GSLV-F05 with indigenous cryogenic upper stage carrying advanced weather satellite INSAT-3DR.

He was reacting to a question whether the satellite will be used for identification of the missing AN-32. INSAT-3DR carries four payloads including a satellite aided search and rescue transponder mainly used by Coast Guard, Defence Services and Navy during emergency situations.

In a case of disaster on land, these beacons start emitting signals and that is picked up by the search and rescue transponder of the satellite, he said. "There have been instances where in some remote places, people have been rescued based on those signals. But AN-32 case is very different," he added. The transport aircraft went missing on its way to Port Blair from Tambaram airbase here.