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Can Brain Waves be Detected by a Satellite Radio Telescope Array?

-- | February 12, 2014

Question: I have a question that pertains both to space and life on the ground. It is my theory that, in essence, the U.S. communications and spy satellite network could be used as a massive (about 13 billion square-mile) radio telescope array which surrounds Earth that would have sufficient resolution and sensitivity to pick up the minute bioelectromagnetic signals given off by the human brain. Could you comment on whether such a space-based radio telescope system as described would be able to pick up brain waves of us on Earth? — John

Answer: Brain waves propagate at about 0.5 to 25 Hz. You would need a radio telescope system that is capable of measuring these wavelengths, which are in fact quite low for radio telescopes. Furthermore, as the ability to distinguish one radio source from another that is nearby is a function of the spatial resolution of a radio telescope, which is proportional to the wavelength of observation divided by the average separation between the antenna array elements, the low brain wave frequency makes it effectively impossible to distinguish one source of brain waves from another. Finally, I believe that there would be many sources of emission in the 0.5 to 25 Hz range from sources other than human brains, which would present a “confusion” problem for these measurements.

Jeff Mangum

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