'Immense, untracked, complex': Search for MH370 complicated by volatile weather, light and the vastness of the Indian Ocean... according to a man who's seen it from space

• MH370 search 'very complex' in a huge expanse of the Indian Ocean off the coast of Perth
• Retired astronaut Chris Hadfield says the immensity of the area 'hard to express'
• Commander Hadfield spent months being able to observe the ocean from International Space Station

By Daily Mail Reporters

PUBLISHED: 23:45 EST, 22 March 2014 | UPDATED: 00:22 EST, 23 March 2014

The search for three objects that may be debris from missing Malaysian Airlines flight 370 will be long, complicated and fraught by the vast expanse of the Indian Ocean target area.

That's the expert view of Chris Hadfield, the retired Canadian astronaut who spent months at the International Space Station monitoring the ocean from above, adding that variables in weather, wind and light may conspire against search teams in a 'very complex' mission.

An exhaustive operation led by Australian authorities commenced Thursday to sweep a remote patch in the southern Indian Ocean after two large objects - one estimates to be 24 metres (78ft) long - were spotted by an American commercial satellite.

Two objects spotted by an American satellite sparked an exhaustive sweep of the southern Indian Ocean Thursday, as Australian authorities describe the images as the 'best lead yet' in the search for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370

A third object has been spotted via Chinese satellite: This image provided by China's State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence shows a floating object seen in the Indian Ocean search zone

View from above: Commander Chris Hadfield says the vastness of the Indian Ocean alone, let alone the many variables that could affect the search, will make the operation very complex

A third object was spotted by Chinese satellite, it was announced Saturday, as the search entered its fourth day some 2,500 kilometres of the coast of Perth.

But despite the optimism of the Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA), the agency tasked with co-ordinating the search, and Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott, Commander Hadfield this week warned the likelihood of locating the objects remained extremely slim.

Commander Hadfield stressed the vastness of the search area and the ongoing challenge posed by unpredictable weather conditions, meant the southern search operation would be extremely difficult.

'The immensity of the sea is hard to express,' he told MSNBC.

'Even going as fast as the space station goes, at 5 miles a second, it's such a huge, untracked area.

Vast, immense, untracked, huge: The Indian Ocean - even as seen from space - is almost too expansive to comprehend, according to Commander Hadfield

Commander Hadfield's time at the International Space Station gave him a unique perspective on ocean monitoring: 'If someone looks away or catches a wave the wrong way... trying to repeat a grid pattern to make sure they've truly exhausted everywhere they've looked - it's a really complex thing to do'

'I've been in the bottom of the space station with the biggest lens that we have, staring at the sea and taking pictures of the surface, and the vagaries of weather and wind and reflection off the water - even with those P3s and following airplanes searching the area - it's not nearly as simple as you'd like it to be.

'If someone looks away or catches a wave the wrong way... trying to repeat a grid pattern to make sure they've truly exhausted everywhere they've looked - it's a really complex thing to do.'

The objects were spotted by the American satellite imaging firm DigitalGlobe, using a 2800-kilogram unit called the WorldView-2.

It's capable of taking images every 1.1 days, Fairfax media reports, and can capture pictures at a resolution of 50 centimetres.

The objects were spotted by the American satellite imaging firm DigitalGlobe, using a 2800-kilogram unit called the WorldView-2

The southern Indian Ocean search zone, where an expanding fleet of aircraft are searching for missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370, is a huge area complicated by many variables

Commander Hadfield acknowledged that while the lead was 'very promising', it may be a long shot to track the objects, which authorities stress may have already sunk well below the surface in a very deep stretch of the Indian Ocean.

'It's a very promising lead but not conclusive - it could be something that was swept off a ship,' he told NBC News.

'I think in fact, from satellites, is going to be our first bet and finding a debris field.

'It may very well be the way we find the wreckage of this plane, assuming that's what happened to it.'

Helping to explain how a plane the size of the Boeing 777-200 could simply disappear, even with all the advanced technology available in 2014, Commander Hadfield told Mashable he wasn't shocked that it still hasn't been found.

'Just tracking one, thing aluminium tube (the plane) in a place that isn't heavily radar covered is really hard, virtually impossible,' he said.

'It is not a surprise to me at all how easy it is to make something that big disappear. The world is huge.'

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