BREAKING: Malaysia Airlines Flight 370’s Satellite Data Released After Long Wait

After months of waiting, Data from communications between satellites and missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was released Tuesday, more than two months after relatives of passengers say they requested that it be made public...CNN exclusively reports

Malaysian authorities published a 47-page document containing hundreds of lines of communication logs between the jetliner and the British company, Inmarsat's satellite system.

The information provided isn't the whole picture but is "intended to provide a readable summary of the data communication logs," the notes at the start of the document say.

Some passengers' families, unsatisfied by official explanations of the plane's fate, say they want an independent analysis of the complex information, a process that could take some time.

"The first thing we're going to expect feedback on is does the data look right," said Sarah Bajc, whose partner, Philip Wood, was on the missing jet. "Is it as complete as we're being led to believe it is?"

She said, though, that she was "annoyed" that Inmarsat and Malaysian authorities hadn't released the raw data in its entirety."I see no reason for them to have massaged this before giving it to us," she said.

Data guided search

For weeks, Inmarsat said it didn't have the authority to release the data, deferring to Malaysian authorities, who are in charge of the search for the plane that disappeared on March 8 over Southeast Asia while on a scheduled flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Last week, the two sides announced that they would aim to make the information available to the public. The satellite signals called "handshakes" with MH370 were part of a larger set of data that investigators have used to try to establish the whereabouts of the Boeing 777 that went missing with 239 people on board.

The handshakes continued to take place for roughly six hours after the aircraft dropped off radar screens. A team of international experts used the data in combination with other information, including radar data and engine performance calculations to conclude that the plane ended up in a remote area of the southern Indian Ocean.

Relatives of people who were on the passenger jet, scientists studying its disappearance and media covering the search have become increasingly critical about the lack of public information about why the search has focused on the southern Indian Ocean. They have been calling for the release of the data that has informed the search efforts.