Countries renew rescue agreement

Abstract

To insure long‐term continuity for the international satellite search and rescue system, COSPAS/SARSAT, an intergovernmental agreement binding the four sponsoring nations to cooperate was signed July 1 in Paris. According to Russell Vollmers of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the agreement is binding for 15 years, with an automatic extension.The system marked the fifth anniversary of its first rescue last year, when on September 10, 1982, three persons were rescued. Begun in the 1970s by NASA as an experiment, COSPAS/SARSAT (a Russian‐English acronym) is now a cooperative project among the United States, Canada, France, and the Soviet Union. Its goal is to reduce the time required to rescue air and maritime distress victims and also to locate victims who otherwise may not be found, thus using the satellite system as a life‐saving device.