It looks like the shooting of a Star Wars movie, but it is something much more serious. These lasers are intended to save lives.
We live in the era of mobiles, GPS location, and Google Maps. It seems impossible for someone to get lost in the 21st century. But not everyone lives in a city, or in a well-connected country.
Saudi Arabia It is one of the richest countries in the world thanks to oil, with the best communication infrastructures. But here are also some of the largest deserts in the world.
There are remote places in the desert where land cover does not reach. And although there is communication via satellite, the battery of the mobiles runs out, or they are damaged by the heat, and other incidents.
The fact is that last year 131 people were lost in the deserts of Saudi Arabia.
Rescue teams found 100 of them safe and sound. 20 died of hunger or thirst, and 11 people have not been found.
The government of Saudi Arabia wants to avoid these deaths, and the additional costs of rescue equipment.
There is plenty of money there, so they think big. As reported by the web Knovhov, the Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture has installed in the Nafud desert, in the province of Al Jouf, 11 huge laser beams located next to water tanks and communication stations.
These laser beams are aimed at the sky at night, and can be seen from dozens of kilometers away.
They are designed so that people who get lost in the desert, can quickly find a source of water, and a telephone to communicate your position.
Lasers are powered by solar panels during the day, so they don’t need maintenance, because they get enough electricity to run through the night.
A brilliant idea, although it will certainly provoke some strange landscapes during the hours of darkness, with the desert lit up with green and blue lights.