Tag Archives: Loon

Sept. 12, 2022, 10:00 AM In an earlier period of its history, Google became famous for pursuing a range of long-shot projects, such as space elevators, as well as kites that doubled as wind turbines. Among the most whimsical was Loon, a plan to use high-flying balloons to beam superfast internet to areas that couldn’t be served by more traditional means. The company shut down the project last year, and it’s uncertain whether anyone will ever build a significant balloon-based wireless… Source link

Google’s parent company is winding down a project that used highflying balloons to provide internet access in hard-to-reach regions of the world, as it retreats from some of the moonshot projects championed by its founders. The project, known as Loon, started in 2011 and had its first public launch in New Zealand in 2013. It sought to connect billions of people in communities where traditional ground-based infrastructure was too expensive or too difficult to install. But… Source link

OAKLAND, Calif. — Google’s parent company Alphabet is shutting down Loon, a high-profile subsidiary spun out from its research labs that used high-altitude helium balloons to deliver cellular connectivity from the stratosphere. Nearly a decade after it began the project, Alphabet said on Thursday that it pulled the plug on Loon because it did not see a way to reduce costs to create a sustainable business. Along with the self-driving car unit Waymo, Loon was one of the most hyped… Source link

WASHINGTON — Google announced Jan. 21 it is shutting down Loon, a venture to provide wireless connectivity by balloon that has been seen as both complementary to and competitive with satellite networks. In a blog post, Astro Teller, head of X, the advanced projects or “moonshot factory” division of Google parent company Alphabet, announced that Loon will wind down operations in the next several months. Google started Loon in 2012 as part of X and spun it out into a separate… Source link