time, i need something that s less than 1,000 square miles. reporter: right now, we are dealing with 100,000 square miles. yes. reporter: very low probability of detection if that is our search area. reporter: that s a sobering thought for the families of those missing. as we board ocean shield those working to deploy her are mindful every minute counts. the pinger signal will last little more than a week and any wreckage has been dragged by wind and currents for weeks now. you know, carol, we can tell you that the ocean shield is now deployed. it will take two or three days to get to the search zone. everyone aboard that ship including three key australian investigators are hoping that at least one piece or a few pieces of wreckage are spotted before they get there. carol? paula, thanks so much.
international to get a look at how it works. this device is now on board the australian ship, ocean shield as it heads out. how it works is if a piece of wreckage is found, only if a piece of wreckage is found, they tow this device back and forth for miles at a time, many miles at a time, sometimes hours. it will listen intently for the sound of the pinger on the black box. it can pick up that sound. here is my conversation with paul nelson about the distance involved here. how far away can it be, him picking up. the outside edge is two miles, a mile and a half to two miles away, it can detect the sound. if we hear it and barely hear it, we would turn the boat around and come closer. so it can even detect the
orange objects found over the weekend nothing more than fishing equipment. this is malaysian motors calling on the united states to deploy more military assets to the search zones. australia s hi-tech ocean shield is heading out to sea. it s equipped with the u.s. navy s black box detectors. search crews have less than a week before the battery runs out. we re following the ocean shield. take it away, will. reporter: hey, carol. the ocean shield departed garden island which is western australia s largest naval base within the last hour and we have new video to show you. we were following it but i have to tell you it was going so quickly that one of the other boats with news cameras on it, as they were trying to keep up, we were trying to keep up, their engine died, they put out an s.o.s. call so we had to stop the chase, turn around and help that boat because they were in a busy shipping lane.
unraveled when the flight data recorders are recovered. until that happens all we are left with are theories and speculation. yes, the search at times has been confused. certainly it s about end disappoi been disappointing. but no one is ready to give up. in the next hour of newsroom the ocean shield is racing out to the search area in the indian ocean aboard a black box pinger detecter. the question is, will the ship get there in time? [ male announcer ] this man has an accomplished research and analytical group at his disposal. but even more impressive is how he puts it to work for his clients. morning. morning. thanks for meeting so early. oh, it s not a big deal at all. come on in. [ male announcer ] it s how edward jones
malaysian authorities will travel to the united states to ask for more military equipment. the batteries on the plane s black boxes will start to die on saturday. in the meantime, the high-tech australian ship, ocean shield, is on the way to the search area equipped with a u.s. navy ping dete detector. paula is live with more. reporter: good morning, carol. it is a good thing that that ocean shield is on the way to the search zone. the problem is, it still can t do its best work, what it is meant to do, until they find a way to narrow that huge swath of ocean now being searched. the ocean shield is ready and hours from sailing off to a search zone that so far has yielded no trace of flight 370. the australian ship will be the