Google Wants to Provide Internet Access to Remote Parts of the World with Solar-Powered Balloons

Perhaps you live in a developed nation, or a pocket of a developing nation, where internet access is a relatively cheap commodity. Count yourself lucky. Right now, 5 billion people — or two thirds of the world’s population — lack access to an affordable and reliable Internet connection. Which means they lack access to critical information — medical information that can save lives; scientific information that can improve farming; technical information necessary to build a modern economy; and educational resources that can cultivate young minds.

With Project Loon, Google is launching an audacious experiment that will hopefully make a dent in this serious problem. The experiment involves putting a fleet of high-altitude balloons into the air. Powered solely by the wind and the sun, the balloons will fly high into the stratosphere, well above where commercial planes fly, and they’ll beam Internet access back to the ground “at speeds similar to today’s 3G networks or faster,” claims Google’s main blog. (The clip below explains the gist of the technology.) Right now, they’re running a small scale test in New Zealand (in Christchurch and Canterbury, to be exact) and you can monitor the progress over at Project Loon’s Google Plus page. In the meantime, we’ll keep our fingers crossed and hope the entire world can soon enjoy our collection of Free Online Courses, not to mention the other random curiosities found on the web.


by | Permalink | Comments (1) |

Support Open Culture

We’re hoping to rely on our loyal readers rather than erratic ads. To support Open Culture’s educational mission, please consider making a donation. We accept PayPal, Venmo (@openculture), Patreon and Crypto! Please find all options here. We thank you!


Comments (1)
You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
  • Vignesh says:

    Thanks to Google… This Project Loon Ballon Concept was a cool idea that has unfolded by google would provide much benefits to the remote areas by connecting them with the other parts of the globe. If this is implemented completely round the globe, then this could be the another technological blast in the communication sector. Also the most proudable area in this project is, The baloon using the renewable engery for its survival. Again Thank you google for this green concept of connecting the people globally. nnGood post, I have ever seen. Thanks for Sharing. Keep Rocking.nnVigneshnwww.info-barn.blogspot.com

Leave a Reply

Quantcast
Open Culture was founded by Dan Colman.