PaleBlueDot,
The satellite position reporting system you describe already exists in many inexpensive forms, and has been made mandatory by many agencies in Canada for aircraft deployed on firefighting missions, etc. Unit includes an internal GPS, with a small antenna that (in helicopters at least) can often be mounted on the dash, and sends position reports at a user determined frequency (e.g. 30 sec, 2 min, etc). There are many different companies making these units, here's a few...
http://http://www.latitudetech.com/
http://http://www.blueskynetwork.com/
http://http://www.skyconnect.aero/
Obviously it would be a much bigger undertaking to mount these on a fleet of airliners than it would a helicopter, which is where I've seen them used, but its unfortunate a tool like this does not appear to have been on this flight.