How many people around the world have no connection to the Internet?
Think of all the things we do on the Internet. Can you imagine spending your entire life disconnected?
So Google asked:
What if everyone on planet Earth had access to the Internet?
In 2013, the started an experiment called Project Loon.
They started in the Southern Hemisphere, with ground stations and users in southern New Zealand.
Pilot program participants were given special SIM cards to connect their phones to the Loon network.
Project Loon’s high-altitude balloons create a continuous Internet network for the people beneath it.
The pilot was a success, and now they’re expanding!
But expanding the program came with many challenges. They had to scale up every aspect of their operation: manufacturing, launch, balloon tracking, and balloon recovery. But now their hope is creating “a ring of uninterrupted connectivity at latitudes in the Southern Hemisphere.”
“We’re getting close to the point where we can bring Internet to people across the world.”
— Project Loon Lead Mike Cassidy
