蜜柚直播

Aerospace engineering student Tristan Schuler is studying whether solar-powered balloons can be used for aerial research in such 鈥渉ard-to-reach places鈥� as Mars or Venus.

But his Oct. 15 test flight from Lake Havasu City did not go according to plan.

Schuler said he expected his homemade prototype to rise to no more than about 60,000 feet and eventually come down 鈥減retty close to I-10鈥� somewhere between Phoenix and 蜜柚直播.

Instead, it soared to more than 67,000 feet, where unexpected wind gusts of about 70 mph carried it 180 miles due south.

When it finally crashed down more than nine hours later, its GPS tracking signal placed it in an isolated patch of the El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve, about 30 miles south of the border.

鈥淚 thought it was for sure gone,鈥� Schuler said.

A small reward and a savior

Just in case, Schuler posted about it on regional sections of Reddit and Facebook, in hopes of finding someone in Mexico willing to go collect it for him.

He also tried contacting the visitor center for the biosphere reserve, but no one responded to his messages, possibly because he used Google鈥檚 translator to try to explain what he had lost and where he had lost it.

Schuler even offered a $100 reward, which he said was all he could afford as a 鈥減oor college student鈥� with a research grant that doesn鈥檛 cover expenses like that.

Then along came Sonoran businessman Aron Brown.

The Rocky Point resident said he read about the missing balloon on Facebook and thought it might be fun to retrieve it, so he contacted Schuler to get its last known location: somewhere in an ocean of sand dunes about 150 miles north of his house.

Then, on Oct. 18, Brown loaded his four-wheeler into the back of his truck and headed that way with his family.

Balloon hunting in the dunes

The road only got him to within about 12 miles of the coordinates, so he parked the truck, grabbed a small bottle of water and headed into the dunes alone on the ATV with only a hand-held GPS unit to guide him.

His family stayed behind to wait for him. 鈥淚 told them, 鈥榠f I don鈥檛 come back in a couple of hours, report me missing,鈥� 鈥� Brown said.

It took Brown about 90 minutes to reach the location Schuler had given him, but there was no wreckage in sight. Brown said he prayed a little and climbed to the top of a nearby dune, where he spotted some material moving around in the breeze about 300 yards away.

The only signs of activity around the downed balloon were the tracks left by coyotes and other small animals, Brown said.

He shot a few pictures and a quick video, then gathered up the balloon鈥檚 transmitter and gondola 鈥� basically a 1-foot-square foam box containing sensors, electronics and a GoPro camera.

He said he also tried to collect the balloon itself, but the delicate plastic material was wrapped around a bush and partially buried.

鈥淚 was in a hurry to get home. I didn鈥檛 like (being) where I was by myself,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淥n a side note: I鈥檒l never do that again. You could easily get lost if you don鈥檛 have a GPS, and if you break down you might never get out of there.鈥�

Some science and some luck

Later that day, Brown posted a message on an online bulletin board for Rocky Point鈥檚 Cholla Bay and soon connected with a friend who was headed to 蜜柚直播 early the next morning and was willing to take the box back with him.

Within about 48 hours of Schuler鈥檚 initial internet plea, the researcher had his missing science project back.

鈥淲e didn鈥檛 even have to ship anything,鈥� Schuler said.

This was the second test flight of his prototype, which is about 20 feet in diameter and rises on plain old air heated by the sun.

鈥淲e鈥檙e in the super early stages,鈥� he said.

The first flight went much more smoothly.

On Oct. 1, he launched a similar balloon from the town of Globe. Then he watched its GPS track in amazement as it flew south to 蜜柚直播 and got snared by some power lines about a half mile from the UA campus.

鈥淚t was wild. It came down like five minutes from my house,鈥� Schuler said.

Researcher grateful to have his gear back

His cross-border mishap the second time around drew plenty of jokes online about the balloon really being part of some sophisticated smuggling operation.

But Schuler insists there鈥檚 鈥渘othing sketchy鈥� about his research, unless there鈥檚 a law he鈥檚 not aware of against collecting atmospheric temperatures.

Schuler was curious to know if he had violated some international treaty with his accidental incursion into Mexican airspace. 鈥淚 did some Googling about that but didn鈥檛 find anything,鈥� he said.

Getting the box back will allow him to verify sensor data from the test flight and spare him the expense of replacing the computer gear, the transmitter and the camera.

Schuler didn鈥檛 want to give an exact figure, but he said the stuff he got back is worth 鈥渟ignificantly more than the $100 reward I was offering.鈥�

He said Brown deserves 鈥渁 big thank you鈥� for retrieving his prototype.

鈥淚 was definitely not expecting to get it back,鈥� Schuler said. 鈥淎ron really saved the day on this one.鈥�

For his part, Brown said Schuler offered him the reward money, but he turned it down. After six months cooped up by the coronavirus, he said an adventure 鈥渙ut there into the boonies鈥� was a welcome change of pace.

鈥淚t was actually just for fun,鈥� Brown said. 鈥淚 should be paying him for a fun Sunday with my family.鈥�