Product catalogue
Summary of imagery analyses for non-natural objects in support of the search for Flight MH370: results from the analysis of imagery from the PLEIADES 1A satellite undertaken by Geoscience Australia
On 8 March 2014, the Boeing 777-200ER aircraft registered as Malaysia Airlines 9M-MRO and operating as flight MH370 (MH370) disappeared from air traffic control radar after taking off from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on a scheduled passenger service to Beijing, China with 227 passengers and 12 crew on board.
After analysis of satellite data it was discovered that MH370 continued to fly for over six hours after contact was lost. All the available data indicates the aircraft entered the sea close to a long but narrow arc of the southern Indian Ocean.
On 31 March 2014, following an extensive sea and air search, the Malaysian Government accepted the Australian Government’s offer to take the lead in the search and recovery operation in the southern Indian Ocean in support of the Malaysian accident investigation.
On behalf of Australia, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) coordinated and led the search operations for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean. Geoscience Australia (GA) provided advice, expertise and support to the ATSB in sea floor mapping (bathymetric survey) and the underwater search. In March 2017 GA was subsequently asked by the ATSB to provide advice and scientific expertise in the analysis of satellite imagery (PLEIADES 1A) (Source: French Military Intelligence Service © CNES) for the detection of possible non-natural objects. All enquiries regarding the overall search should be directed to the ATSB (atsbinfo@atsb.gov.au). atsbinfo@atsb.gov On behalf of Australia, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) coordinated and led the search operations for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean. Geoscience Australia (GA) provided advice, expertise and support to the ATSB in sea floor mapping (bathymetric survey) and the underwater search. In March 2017 GA was subsequently asked by the ATSB to provide advice and scientific expertise in the analysis of satellite imagery (PLEIADES 1A) (Source: French Military Intelligence Service © CNES) for the detection of possible non-natural objects. All enquiries regarding the overall search should be directed to the ATSB (atsbinfo@atsb.gov.au).
Simple
Identification info
- Date (Creation)
- 2017-06-01T11:00:00
- Date (Publication)
- 2017-08-16T11:00:00
- Date (Revision)
- 2019-05-12T23:55:15
- Citation identifier
- Geoscience Australia Persistent Identifier/https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/111041
- Citation identifier
- Digital Object Identifier/http://dx.doi.org/10.11636/Record.2017.013
- Cited responsible party
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Author Minchin, S.
1 Co-author Mueller, N.
2 Co-author Lewis, A.
3 Co-author Byrne, G.
4 Co-author Tran, M.
5
- Name
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Record
- Issue identification
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2017/013
- Status
- Point of contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Owner Minchin, S.
Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Owner Lewis, A.
Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Mueller, N.
Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice Point of contact Tran, M.
Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- Spatial representation type
- Topic category
-
- Geoscientific information
Extent
))
- Maintenance and update frequency
- Not planned
Resource format
- Title
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Product data repository: Various Formats
- Website
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Data Store directory containing the digital product files
Data Store directory containing one or more files, possibly in a variety of formats, accessible to Geoscience Australia staff only for internal purposes
- Discipline
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earth observation
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- Product
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satellite imagery
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- Project
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mh370
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- Platform
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PLEIADES 1A satellite
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- Sub-Topic Category
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image object detection
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- Australian and New Zealand Standard Research Classification: Fields of Research
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Earth Sciences
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- Keywords
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Published_External
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Resource constraints
- Title
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Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence
- Alternate title
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CC-BY
- Edition
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4.0
- Access constraints
- License
- Use constraints
- License
Resource constraints
- Title
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Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
Distribution Information
- Distributor contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Distributor Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
- OnLine resource
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Download the Record (pdf)
Download the Record (pdf)
- Distribution format
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pdf
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Resource lineage
- Statement
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The Centre national d'edtudes spatiales (CNES) and the French military intelligence service is acknowledged as the source of the PLEIADES 1A earth observation products. Geoscience Australia is responsible for the analyses conducted in the report. On behalf of Australia, the Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) coordinated and led the search operations for MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean. Geoscience Australia (GA) provided advice, expertise and support to the ATSB in sea floor mapping (bathymetric survey) and the underwater search. In March 2017 GA was subsequently asked to provide advice and scientific expertise in the analysis of satellite imagery (PLEIADES 1A) (©CNES) for the detection of possible floating objects in support of the search for MH370.
- Hierarchy level
- Document
Metadata constraints
- Title
-
Australian Government Security ClassificationSystem
- Edition date
- 2018-11-01T00:00:00
- Classification
- Unclassified
Metadata
- Metadata identifier
-
urn:uuid/96f5e354-8ed8-4ffe-a947-3a6c786a6d65
- Title
-
GeoNetwork UUID
- Language
- English
- Character encoding
- UTF8
- Contact
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Role Organisation / Individual Name Details Point of contact Mueller, N.
Point of contact Tran, M.
Commonwealth of Australia (Geoscience Australia)
Voice
Type of resource
- Resource scope
- Document
Alternative metadata reference
- Title
-
Geoscience Australia - short identifier for metadata record with
uuid
- Citation identifier
- eCatId/111041
- Date info (Creation)
- 2017-06-02T04:03:05
- Date info (Revision)
- 2018-04-20T06:00:27
Metadata standard
- Title
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AU/NZS ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-1:2014
Metadata standard
- Title
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ISO 19115-3
- Title
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Geoscience Australia Community Metadata Profile of ISO 19115-1:2014
- Edition
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Version 2.0, September 2018
- Citation identifier
- https://pid.geoscience.gov.au/dataset/ga/122551