Orolia receives SAR satellite technology enhancement contract from UK Maritime Agency

Orolia, through its McMurdo brand, has been awarded a contract from the UK Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) to enhance its existing search and rescue (SAR) satellite technology nationwide.

The contract comprises of one year of installation and training with an additional three years of service and support.

The enhancement will allow MCA to operate the new Medium-altitude Earth Orbit Search and Rescue (MEOSAR) satellites that are currently getting deployed.

Orolia chief business development officer Chris Loizou said: “This nationwide satellite system upgrade will provide unparalleled precision, timing and decision support data to the UK search and rescue teams.

“We are proud to support the UK MCA with world-leading technology developed through our forty-year history of innovation.”

Orolia MEOSAR engineering centre at the Americas Headquarters facility located in the Washington, D.C. will carry out the system design and development of the technology.

The deployment and support services of the contract will be provided by the local office situated in Portsmouth, UK.

The company has also planned to deliver a new MEOSAR-capable McMurdo mission control centre to UK MCA. This centre will be collecting distress signals and channelise them to appropriate rescue coordination centre.

The facility is expected to improve the speed and location accuracy for detecting emergency distress beacons after being fully operational. 

Maritime Operations director Richard Parkes said: “The Maritime and Coastguard Agency continually seek opportunities to further advance our search and rescue service delivery and reputation.

“McMurdo's MEOSAR-enabled mission control centre and ground stations will provide the highest calibre technology and performance to support our SAR personnel, enabling us to provide mariners in distress with better response operations to save even more lives.”

Orolia will also install innovative Medium Earth Orbit Local User Terminals (MEOLUT) and enhance LUTs, or ground stations, that operate on the GEOSAR and LEOSAR satellite constellations to provide comprehensive programme support.

It will help UK MCA to locate any individual by their activated distress beacons.