Originally Posted by
andrewwm
I haven't seen it confirmed anywhere, but I've read speculation that the SATCOM connects with the Iridium system.
The Malaysians probably sent over the SATCOM hardware ID, which then was cross-referenced by the Iridium folks to look up the communication history.
Iridium is one supplier of satellite communications yes but hardly the only one.
Originally Posted by
Scifience
BREAKING: WSJ now reporting US investigators are considering the possibility that the plane may have landed at some point. WSJ also reporting that US has "location and altitude" data for at least five hours after its disappearance.
Malaysia is looking more incompetent by the minute.
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/...37573396580350 (paywall)
That's a bit unfair mate, it is becoming very plain that the US has access to data that the Malays simply don't have. I hardly think they can be held accountable for not acting on what they didn't know.
FWIW I know a little more about US sat capabilities than I maybe should and without saying too much I see no reason why they could not have picked up a VHF signal and naturally the low gain sat in a no brainer. The important word here is
could, first they needed to be looking but the way the NSA sucks up data and the fact it has taken days to emerge leads me to believe they have been sifting thru mountains of recorded data in order to find a couple of pings. This is of cause a momentous task and the fact it was found at all is both a credit to the NSA (or whoever) and just a little scary. Looks like that new several billion dollar data center of theirs just paid off.