Solar Lasers to Guide the Lost in the Desert : The Life-Saving Innovation in Saudi Arabia
- Antoine.C
- 4 days ago
- 2 min read
Solar Lasers to Guide the Lost in the Desert: The Life-Saving Innovation in Saudi Arabia
A Light in the Desert Darkness
In the vast stretches of the Nefud Desert in northern Saudi Arabia, getting lost can quickly become a matter of life or death. Every year, dozens of people go missing in this unforgiving environment, often just a few hundred meters from water sources they are unable to locate. Solar Lasers to Guide the Lost in the Desert: The Life-Saving Innovation in Saudi Arabia
In 2020, 142 people went missing in the Saudi desert—28 of them died, and 14 are still unaccounted for. To address this tragedy, explorer and environmentalist Mohammed Fohaid al-Sohaiman al-Rammali came up with a simple yet brilliant idea: installing solar-powered laser beacons near water sources. These devices emit a vertical light beam visible from kilometers away, even at night, guiding lost travelers like a lighthouse in the dark.
A Sustainable and Autonomous Technology
Powered exclusively by solar energy, these beacons require neither intensive maintenance nor a power grid. Their autonomy is a major advantage in such remote areas, where human intervention is difficult—if not impossible.
Designed to be robust and easy to deploy, they require no specific technical skills to operate. Currently, 11 beacons are already in operation, and a plan is underway to install around a hundred more between the regions of Ha'il and Al-Jouf, with support from the Ministry of Environment, Agriculture, and Water.
A Local Solution with Global Potential
Although the project was born in the Saudi desert, its potential extends far beyond the Kingdom’s borders. Other countries facing desert conditions or remote, hard-to-reach rural areas could adopt this simple, eco-friendly solution with strong humanitarian impact.
These beams of light represent more than just a rescue device—they symbolize an accessible and well-designed technology, capable of meeting a fundamental need: to survive and find one’s way.
