MH370 satellite data released after months of waiting

Data from communications between satellites and missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 was released Tuesday, according to CNN. 

For weeks, the satellite company Inmarsat said it didn't have the authority to release the data, deferring to Malaysian authorities, which are in charge of the search for the plane that disappeared more than two months ago over Southeast Asia.

Last week, the two sides announced that they would aim to make the information available to the public. They released a 47-page document on Tuesday.

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 on March 8 with 239 people on board.

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.

Searchers have so far found no wreckage and have not been able to say for sure where MH370 might be.

CNN aviation analyst Jeff Wise has said that "the box is going to open" when the satellite data gets publicized.

"It could produce more theories. It will probably cancel out a lot of theories," he said.

Either way, the release will hopefully give "a much better understanding of what's been going on all this time," Wise said.