U.S. military spacecraft aid search for missing Airbus

U.S. Air Force Defense Support Program (DSP) missile warning satellite data collected early June 1 over the central Atlantic, is being examined to see if it captured a possibly fiery breakup or impact of the Air France Airbus A330 that disappeared enroute to Paris from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

The objective is to help locate the position of the aircraft when it went down and also provide insight into what may have caused the accident. Air France flight 447 was carrying 228 passengers and crew when it vanished.

The A330's telemetry system, which automatically sends data to the airline's maintenance computers, transmitted data indicating electrical problems and possible depressurization of the aircraft at 0233 GMT June 1, about three hours after takeoff. The A330 was about 230 miles northeast of the Brazilian coast approaching heavy thunderstorms that line the intertropical convergence zone (ITCZ) at that latitude. The ITCZ is an area of continuous low pressure that lines the equatorial regions.

The aircraft had already flown beyond radar contact and, like all airline traffic in the central Atlantic, was using satellite voice position reports or automated telemetry reports to enable air traffic control to know their locations.

Data from two or three other U.S. military space systems are also being assessed to see if their sensors were pointing at the area where the Airbus went missing.