Google
For 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. A team at Google’s Project Loon believe that it might actually be possible to build a ring of balloons, flying around the globe on the stratospheric winds, that provides Internet access to the earth below.
For 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. A team at Google’s Project Loon believe that it might actually be possible to build a ring of balloons, flying around the globe on the stratospheric winds, that provides Internet access to the earth below.
They’ve built a system that uses balloons, carried by the wind at altitudes twice as high as commercial planes, to beam Internet access to the ground at speeds similar to today’s 3G networks or faster. As a result, the balloons could become an option for connecting rural, remote, and underserved areas, and for helping with communications after natural disasters.
The idea may sound a bit crazy—and that’s part of the reason they’re calling it Project Loon—but there’s solid science behind it.
