More than two months after the relatives of passengers lost on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 requested it, raw satellite data used to determine the missing plane's flight path was released Tuesday.
"Relatives of passengers have been calling for the information to be made public. The log includes 45 pages of data that was sent in the hours after the plane disappeared." (Via Al Jazeera)
The information collected by British satellite company Inmarsat was reportedly given to family members first then released to the media Tuesday.
The documents were then posted online by a Facebook page dedicated to the families of the missing passengers along with the message, "Hope [this] original raw data and can be used to potentially 'think [outside] the box' to get an alternative positive outcome."
But one expert told CBS there is "very little new" in the newly released data that could help pinpoint the Boeing 777's last location before it mysteriously disappeared on March 8.
USA Today reports the data features several electronic pings — also known as "handshakes" — between the plane and Inmarsat's satellite network. The analysis of those pings and other information led investigators to focus their search on a remote section of the southern Indian Ocean west of Australia.
But a safety analyst for CNN says key information that would allow experts to "fully test the official conclusion," like how data was used to determine a flight path, is missing. He said, "There's not enough information to say whether they made an error. I think we're still going to be looking for more."
Inmarsat insisted for weeks it didn't have the authorization to release the data and instead deferred to Malaysian authorities.
But last week, the two sides made headlines by announcing they would try to make the information public in a move of transparency. (Via The New York Times)
Several relatives of missing passengers say they wanted the data so independent experts can analyze and verify it. After more than three months of searching, the missing jet and the 239 people on board have yet to be found.
