Can an image of a person using a radio telescope see a person from far away? Could a radio telescope be made to see someone walking on Mars?
https://space.stackexchange.com/questions/30477/could-we-see-someone-walking-on-mars-from-earth
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$\begingroup$ How close is it to the guy? Can we put a camera 10 ft away from him and capture the data then relay it to an intermediate satellite? I think you need to revise your question a bit. You use a lot of terms and don't explain them fully in terms of the true question you're asking. Is this telescope on earth? $\endgroup$– Magic Octopus UrnCommented Sep 26, 2018 at 0:13
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$\begingroup$ @MagicOctopusUrn revised $\endgroup$– MuzeCommented Sep 26, 2018 at 1:41
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$\begingroup$ Once again where is the observer-- I assume on earth? In orbit around earth? Orbit around mars? 10 ft from his face? $\endgroup$– Magic Octopus UrnCommented Sep 26, 2018 at 1:47
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$\begingroup$ @MagicOctopusUrn let us say Earth. $\endgroup$– MuzeCommented Sep 26, 2018 at 1:57
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$\begingroup$ I think the main problem here is "Will the person be emitting significant amounts of radio waves"? $\endgroup$– PhiterosCommented Sep 26, 2018 at 3:11
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1 Answer
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In brief: you cannot resolve details of an object on a scale less than roughly a wavelength or two. The distance to the object only marginally affects this problem.
So take a look at the wavelengths your radiotelescope is capable of receiving and compare with dimensions of interesting "features" on a human body.
Further, as the comments pointed out, unless the human is either emitting radio-wavelength energy in significant amounts (unlikely) or is being "painted" by a large emitting source (as active radar systems do), you won't get any signal in the first place.
answered Sep 26, 2018 at 17:01