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Google’s Innovative Loon Project takes internet to the ends of the world

by Fahad Saleem

Google’s Innovative Loon Project takes internet to the ends of the world
Google is undoubtedly the world’s most innovative company. The projects and the products that the company rolls out are unique and intriguing. The once small search engine company is now a true global tech giant with interests in many high tech fields. The company also made internet easier for other people to use and surf the internet through their innovative search engine and reliable Gmail accounts. Revolutionizing the internet experience is what Google envisaged and now after all these years, it still holds the online experience as a revered experience.

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So in order to promote the internet usage and to connect far flung areas with the free service (for the moment), Google introduced a project which will takes internet to some of the remotest places of the world. It was not using wired network of cables, not through a vast web of optic fibers, it was through Helium “balloons” which will flutter across the world with internet provision capability. These balloons are the part of an amazing idea called project Loon by Google. It was unveiled in 2013, and it is a very ambitious project with a lot of money being poured into it. These balloons have been released by Google as part of an experiment and the path and speed of these balloons can be tracked by your average internet user in real time by Flightradar24’s service. By directing your browser to Flightradar24.com and search around the 40th parallel, you will see 7 slowly moving aircraft. These aircraft are none other than our loon balloons.

You can monitor their height, position, speed, etc. through this site. The balloons are quickly moving at a rate of 41 kilometers an hour currently and are likely to continue their journey as planned by the tech Giant. These balloons are made of polyethylene plastic and are 15X12 meters. They are an elevation of 32 km and their purpose is to create a wireless network with speeds approaching those comparable to 3G networks. After the trial kicked off in June 2013 and much promise shown by these trials, Google plans on launching thousands of these balloons all across the world to provide global internet access to millions of people. Quite an ambitious project eh?

 

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