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Can Radio Telescopes Detect the Black Box from Malaysian Airlines Flight 370?

-- | April 3, 2014

I have received several questions about the detectability of the black box from MH370…

Questions:

Does not the Black box of Malaysian Airlines work at 37.5 kHz, if the sensors are isolated at those frequencies, wouldn’t we be able to isolate the areas? — Joy

Has anyone suggested to use the GBT to direct its sensors and bounce it through revolving satellites to detect the possible frequency the Malaysian Airlines’ Black Box emits before the deadline/back up battery signal stops. — Joy

I recently visited the NRAO in New Mexico and I was wondering if the radio telescopes could be used to pick up the sound waves coming from the missing Malaysia airliner which is emitting a sound at 37 Kilohertz. If the radio telescopes can pick up sound waves from deep space, surely it can pick up radio waves from the deep ocean? — Madison

Answer: Unfortunately, Earth-bound radio telescopes cannot be used to detect and isolate the source of an object like an aircraft’s black box for several reasons. Since the response pattern for a radio telescopes is directional, meaning that it primarily sensitive to signals that come from the direction toward which it is pointing, the fact that we cannot point our radio telescopes directly at the area where MH370 is suspect to be makes it impossible for an Earth-bound radio telescope to see such an object. Also, none of NRAO’s radio telescopes operate at the very low frequency of 37 kHz.

Jeff Mangum

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