Google intends to build a network of balloons for planetary access to the Internet

Engineers team Google X told yesterday about a new project called Loon . The goal is to create a system of balloons that will provide access to the Network for people in remote areas at a speed comparable to the speed of existing 3G networks and even faster.

Technically, it’s about creating a network of balloons, each about 15 meters in diameter, moving in the Earth’s stratosphere at an altitude of about 20 km (much higher than the height at which commercial flights take place or major meteorological phenomena occur). The distribution of wind flows at such a height is almost independent of terrestrial factors and is stable, so by moving the ball between the streams, you can confidently control its movement relative to the earth's surface. The energy supply of equipment on the ball is entirely due to the sun.

It is supposed to use the Google Loon ball system by installing a special antenna to the user, through which the connection is made to the transceiver equipment of the ball at 2.4 and 5.8 GHz civil frequencies open for use by anyone.
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The complexity of the engineering solution can be explained by the following factors: in the stratosphere, the atmospheric pressure is about 1% of the pressure on the surface of the planet, the temperature is -50 ° C; Because of its greater proximity to outer space, the level of ultraviolet radiation is also much higher than normal terrestrial conditions. The team of project engineers, however, was able to find acceptable solutions for the creation of reliably functioning devices and from tomorrow the testing of the first section of 30 balls in New Zealand should begin with a specially selected team of testers.

You can look at the trial launch of the ball on the demo video:



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