Google took its first steps toward providing internet access to people in remote areas and less developed places by launching high altitude balloons, which the company hopes will one day carry a network in the stratosphere for everyone on the ground.
The internet giant is launching about 30 superpressure balloons in New Zealand and hopes to control them aloft on planned paths around the world. The balloons will carry electronics powered by solar panels that broadcast internet signals comparable in speed to 3G. While this is still an experimental trial period, Google hopes that someday the internet balloon initiative, "Project Loon," could provide low-cost internet access to anyone on the planet.
"It's pretty hard to get the internet to lots of parts of the world," said Richard DeVaul, chief technical architect at Google's secretive lab, Google[x], to BBC News.
"Just because in principle you could take a satellite phone to sub-Saharan Africa and get a connection there, it doesn't mean the people have a cost-effective way of getting online. The idea behind Loon was that it might be easier to tie the world together by using what it has in common - the skies - than the process of laying fiber [optic cable] and trying to put up cellphone infrastructure."
To accomplish this, Google is launching balloons that will communicate to the ground and with each other into the atmosphere. Essentially each balloon is like a super-strong weather balloon with advanced WiFi on it. The balloons are about 50 feet in diameter and 40 feet tall, when fully inflated with a lighter-than-air gas like helium. The balloons are fitted with radio antennas, a flight computer, solar panels, and an altitude control system. The inflatable part of the balloons are made of polyethylene plastic, which is stronger than normal high-altitude balloon materials and can withstand higher pressure from the air inside the balloons when they reach their top altitude.
The electronics hang underneath, and are fitted with a parachute, which will hopefully allow a smooth descent and soft landing when each balloon reaches the end of its service period. The whole thing is powered by a solar panel that can produce up to 100 Watts of power, which is enough to run the unit and also charge a battery for night operation.
The balloons will float in the stratosphere, about 12 miles above the surface of the Earth. That's well above flight paths for airplanes and storms. Software algorithms will navigate the balloons by moving them between different heights, into various layers of wind in the stratosphere, which travel in different directions.
Google wants each balloon to stay aloft for about 100 days, each providing internet to a ring of ground below about 25 miles wide. Specialized antennae on the ground connect to the balloons to provide internet. Right now the company says it can only connect "hundreds of people" to each balloon's internet. The project is being tested in New Zealand first, and Google's website offers a place for Kiwis to sign up and become a Loon "Test Pilot." Sunday, June 16, Google is launching the initiative with the "Festival of Flight" in Christchurch New Zealand.