Project Loon
Google’s parent company Alphabet has announced that ‘Project Loon’ is being discontinued.
Key points:
The objective of ‘Project Loons’ is to provide internet connectivity to remote areas through helium balloons in the stratosphere.
The reason behind the discontinuation of Project Loons is that this model was not able to bring down the cost to continue the operation.
Project Loon:
‘Project Loon’ was launched as a part of Google X in the year 2011 and later in 2018 it became a separate company. The main objective of this project was to connect with rural parts of the world that do not have proper infrastructure for internet.
Significantly, in December 2020, a new record was created by Helium Balloon under Project Loons. This balloon remained in the air for 312 days. It covered a distance of about 2.1 lakh kilometers.
Project Loon:
Project Loon aims to provide Internet connectivity to remote parts of the world. The project involves helium-filled balloons that reside in the stratosphere and they form aerial wireless networks. The project has collaborated with many countries and their technology partners to provide Internet connectivity.
Helium Balloons:
- These balloons are 15 meters wide and 12 meters long. They are launched at an altitude of 20 km from Earth. These balloons act as cell towers receiving and transmitting signals. These balloons are powered by solar panels.
- The path of the balloon is controlled by changing its height. They use wind speed and direction to move up or down.
- Users need a special antenna to receive and transmit signals from the balloon.
- The panels in the balloon produce 100 watts of power when exposed to the sun.
Source – The Hindu
