We all may still be waiting for our flying cars and jetpacks, but there's no question the future has arrived, in ways more subtle but irrefutable. There was the live video of two SpaceX rockets landing on their tails in Florida earlier this year. There's the imminent first flight of the giant Stratolaunch space plane. And now there's Aireon, a network of satellites that will make it possible for any aircraft equipped with ADS-B to be tracked anywhere on the planet. No need to send out search planes—a technician at a screen will pinpoint the site of the downed aircraft, and relay the coordinates to rescue teams within minutes.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.avweb.com/flight-safety/aireon-casts-a-net