On this episode of TechStuff, Jonathan and Lauren talk about the Google Loon project, an ambitious effort by the giant tech company to provide WiFi to even the most remote areas of the globe. Currently, more than 5 billion people don’t have access to the internet at all. Constructing towers would be expensive and time-consuming, and some of the areas that need access are too remote to build on anyway. So they came up with the concept of a giant balloon network, high up in the stratosphere, that could bounce signals to other balloons and provide coverage from miles up in the sky. In 2013, Google launched the first Loons from New Zealand, and in July of 2020, they began offering internet access in Kenya.
The idea is to provide a cheaper option than building towers, while ensuring the balloons are durable enough to sustain themselves in the extreme temperatures and air pressure of the stratosphere – no easy task. The design they’ve ended up with is a balloon about the size of a tennis court, made of incredibly thin polyethylene - thinner than a plastic grocery bag. Inside the balloon is a layer of thin solar panels to power the Loon during the day, and the equipment itself: Antenna for receiving and transmitting information, rechargeable batteries so the Loon can work at night, and gauges to measure air temperature, altitude, wind patterns, and so on. It takes six people to launch one balloon, and once it’s up in the air, it’s controlled from the ground; the balloon lasts over 100 days before it needs to return to Earth.
Their plan is to deploy 400 balloons for each latitude, so while the Loons will be buffeted about by the wind, coverage shouldn’t be interrupted; they’re also partnering with ground-level internet service providers to create a more continuous network. Since the first launch in New Zealand, they used them only in emergency situations; amusingly, they were actually mistaken for UFOs in St. Louis and Texas. But now, they’re working with Telkom Kenya to commercially sell internet in Nairobi for the first time. Hear more about this exciting project on this episode of TechStuff.
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