Google's Project Loon is ready to launch balloons

The head of Project Loon, engineer Mike Kessidy, announced that his team was very close to launching a balloon system into the atmosphere. He told about this, the results of the work and the current state of affairs in a small video published a few days ago. A test launch of the system will be conducted to ensure LTE communication in hard-to-reach areas of Australia and New Zealand.

The industrial approach to the project is indicated by the fact that the project engineers took care of creating a special automated production of the balloons themselves. Cassidy says it took the team three or four days to start one balloon. Now the process has changed dramatically: the production of balls is occupied by an automated line, which can produce about a dozen balls per day.

The entire past year, the project was in the testing stage, following which a team of engineers announced its successful completion. For example, it was found that the balloons could be in the air for quite a long time without damage due to the influence of the aggressive environment of the upper atmosphere. From this point of view, the most successful ball codenamed “Marathoner” lasted 134 days in the air.
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Projects for the launch of aircraft to provide access to the Internet have recently proved to be very popular - they are engaged in many of the leading players in the technology market. In addition to Google, the idea is being developed by Ilon Mask, planning to launch 700 satellites into near-earth orbit. He intends to step a little further and take up the "Internetization" of Mars. At the beginning of the year, the head of Virgin Richard Branson also said that his company would launch 2,400 communications satellites also for the purpose of planetary access to the Internet. They tried to tackle a similar project on Facebook, intending to acquire Titan Aerospace, a drone company, but Google bought the company faster. As a result, Mark Zuckerberg decided to use more conservative ways to connect people to their social network.