AME Student's Research Balloon Rescued From the Sonoran Dunes

The University of Arizona is no stranger to international collaboration, but sometimes research takes an unexpected turn. The Arizona Daily Star recently highlighted a rescue mission to salvage a solar-powered balloon from a remote nature reserve in the Mexican state of Sonora. 

AME graduate student Tristan Schuler is studying whether solar-powered balloons can be used for aerial research in remote locations like Mars. Schuler's research, under assistant professor Jekan Thanga, involved launching one such balloon for a test flight from Lake Havasu City on Oct. 15, 2020. Schuler originally anticipated his homemade prototype would land some 200 miles away, near the I-10 between Phoenix and Tucson. But unexpected winds sent the balloon more than 100 miles off course, where it crash landed in the El Pinacate y Gran Desierto de Altar Biosphere Reserve, about 30 miles south of the international border.

Schuler posted on various social media platforms, asking for someone to retrieve the balloon based on GPS coordinates, and even offered a $100 reward. His calls were answered by Rocky Point resident Aron Brown, who trekked through the dunes on a four-wheeler. A mere 48 hours after Schuler sent out his plea on the internet, Brown had secured the balloon and was sending it back to Tucson with the help of a friend who was already headed that way.

“I was definitely not expecting to get it back,” Schuler told the Arizona Daily Star. “Aron really saved the day on this one.”

See a video Schuler created with footage from his team's balloon experiments.