Why

Every year, 600'000 radiosondes are launched around the world under weather balloons to collect atmospheric data used to produce weather forecasts. During the ascent, the balloon drifts with the wind before bursting at a high altitude, and the precious sensor packages are lost in nature. This has a huge environmental and economic impact ($100M/year).

Instead of trying to make radiosondes cheaper, R2HOME proposes a radical solution to this problem with a gliding robot to guide the return of radiosondes on earth to a precise landing point. The equipment is intact and can be reused, enabling the launch and return of a growing number of sondes.