Google’s
internet-beaming Project Loon can now
launch up to 20 balloons per day
launch up to 20 balloons per day
Project Loon, Google’s
high-speed internet-beaming
balloons bringing connectivity to remote areas, now has an ability
to launch up to 20 balloons per day. According to a Google+ post,
this is possible because the autofill equipment has improved and the time to
fill the balloon has come down under 5 minutes.
The balloons can now
last up to 10 times longer in the stratosphere, than they did in 2013 and a lot
of them have lasted over 100 days – with 130 days being a record. According to
the post, the amount of air taken to fill up one Project Loon balloon is
equivalent to filling up 7000 party balloons and that took a lot of time. But
with the advanced autofill method that process has been sped up.
A Loon balloon is
lifted into position for radio test launch in Nevada, October 2014. Image:
Project Loon
In order to accurately
maneuver the balloons to the correct location in the stratosphere, Google
engineers are constantly computing thousands of trajectory simulations. “For
example, one flight came within 1.5km of our target destination over a flight
of 9,000 kilometers, purely through predicting and sailing with the
stratospheric winds. This is great for getting our balloons to where users need
them, and great for getting balloons to our recovery zones at the end of their
lifetime to make our recovery team’s job that much easier,” says the post.
Internet beaming using
devices placed in the stratosphere is gaining a lot of momentum off
late. It is believed that Facebook plans to start testing its internet-carrying
solar-powered drones in 2015, with the ultimate aim of getting
two-thirds of the global population online. More recently, Tesla founder Elon
Musk has partnered with satellite-industry veteran Greg Wyler to
devise a feasible and relatively low-cost
way to put about 700 satellites, each weighing less than 250 pounds,
into orbit to provide wireless Internet anywhere on the planet. While these
companies are yet to launch their products, Google has already got the ball
rolling.
