Coast Guard Polar Scout Satellites Aid in Arctic Rescue

Climate change has opened a growing number of treacherous Arctic shipping lanes. A pair of CubeSats, nicknamed Polar Scout, will help locate stranded ships.

The Russian-flagged tanker Renda, carrying more than 1.3 million gallons of fuel, sits in the ice while the Coast Guard Cutter Healy crew breaks the ice around the tanker approximately 19 miles northwest of Nunivak Island. (Photo: U.S. Coast Guard)

For decades, the dense sea ice covering the Arctic Ocean has been shrinking and, in some regions, disappearing…