Weather watchers cut costs

The problem: Thousands of dollars worth of weather reading instruments go missing every day.

Tied to a balloon, they rise 35km. Then, when the balloon bursts, they can fall anywhere - often over mountain ranges or out to sea.

The solution: Christchurch inventor Synco Reynders has developed the GPS Boomerang. It is a polystyrene glider carrying the instruments, carried aloft by the weather balloon, which uses GPS (global positioning system) to find its way home after it is released.

"You can stand in the field and, if it's not too windy, catch it right in your hands," Mr Reynders said.

Users will pay a $1500 initial charge, then $100 per flight.

Mr Reynders said the glider's electronics could log every flight. "But if you are sending up instrument packages that can cost $6000 a time, then the glider is going to pay for itself in a single trip."

GPS Boomerang is being tested at the National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research climate research station at Lauder in Central Otago and should be ready to go on the market next month.

- NZPA