Robotic Submarine Completes First Full Search for MH370

The robotic submarine searching for the wreckage from the missing Malaysian airliner has completed its first full 16-hour mission after two previous missions were cut short.

The Australian agency coordinating the search said Thursday the Bluefin-21 autonomous underwater vehicle has searched 90 square kilometers of the ocean bed in its three missions.

It said an initial analysis of data retrieved has revealed "no significant detections."

The Bluefin-21 is using sonar to create a three-dimensional image of the floor of the southern Indian Ocean, where the Boeing 777 is believed to have crashed.

U.S. Navy officials have warned it could take up to two months for the submarine to search the 600-square kilometer area, which has never been mapped.

The search for flight MH370

On the surface, a team of 14 aircraft and 11 ships continued looking for debris and listening for black box signals, although authorities have warned that this effort will soon be ended.

It has now been a week since authorities last detected a signal they believe came from a locator beacon on the plane's flight data recorder, which is presumed to have run out of batteries.

The Malaysia Airlines jet, carrying 239 people, vanished five weeks ago while en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing.

Malaysian officials think the plane was intentionally diverted. But they have refused to rule out other possibilities, including a massive mechanical malfunction.