EDUARD RHEIN YOUTH AWARD 2021 FOR RADIO, TELEVISION AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY: Search for the weather balloon

Every day, thousands of weather balloons rise to an altitude of 30 to 40 kilometers around the world. On board, they carry small probes that record temperature, humidity and air pressure and continuously radio the measured data to the weather services on Earth. In his research project, Amon Schumann developed two approaches to optimize traditional methods for measuring weather data. First, he captured radio signals from landed weather balloons, allowing them to be recovered and reused – reducing costs as well as environmental impact. Second, he developed his own probe, which is extremely lightweight, powered by solar cells, and uses an open amateur radio network, among other features.