Malaysia Flight 370: 'We're throwing everything at this difficult, complex task'

(WWTN) The underwater pulses that an australian navy ship detected over the weekend have not been heard since, but authorities are not letting that deter them in the search for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. "We have atleast several days of intense action ahead of us," Australian Defense Minister David Johnston told reporter tuesday. "We're throwing everything at this difficult, complex task."

The investagators hope the signals could be locator beacons from the plane's data recorders,  but there not sure yet. but buoyed by the hope that there closing in, they reduced the size of the search  area. Now, they are focusing on on a smaller area in the Indian Ocean: 30,000 square miles (77,580 square kilometers) about 1,400 miles (2,270 kilometers) northwest of Perth. that's about a third of the size of the previous search zone.

"Instead of looking at an area the size of texas. we're now looking in an area the size of houston ," aviation expert Alvin John told WWTN. Time, however , is running out. The batteries powering the beacons, which are designed to start sending signals when a plane crashes into the water, last about 30 days after the devices are activated. Tuesday marks the 32nd day since the plane, carrying  239 people, disappeared en route from  Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Beijing.

Experts have said it`s possible that the batteries could last several days longer if they were at their full strength. "We need to continue ... for several days right up to when the point at which there's absolutely no duobt that the pinger batteries will have expired." said retired Air Chef Marshal Angus Houston, the chief of the Austrialian agency coordinating the search. Retired Royal Air Force Lt. Col. Michael Kay said he sees the hunt for the pingers going another week and a half.

"We know that the batteries can last up to 40 days," Kay told WWTN. "If i was Angus Houston, I would be putting the search out to atleast 42, 43 (days) to make absolutely sure that the batteries had failed."