Category: internet balloons

Alphabet’s Loon balloons are helping scientists study gravity waves

[ad_1] In between beaming internet to people in developing countries and sometimes passing for UFOs, Alphabet’s Loon balloons have been busy helping scientists study how our planet works. A team led by Stanford professor Aditi Sheshadri recently published a report on gravity waves, ripples created by gravity when it pushes down on air forced up into the Earth’s upper […]

Alphabet’s internet balloons have spent a million hours in the stratosphere

[ad_1] The record comes in part through the way the balloons operate. Instead of fighting the wind, they use AI to change their altitude and ride currents to their destination. That leads to routes that can be long and winding, but don’t require massive amounts of energy. Loon even encourages its balloons to “stroll” so […]

Alphabet’s balloons broadcast LTE two days after Peruvian quake

[ad_1] This isn’t the first time Loon has provided connectivity following a disaster. It delivered internet to 100,000 people in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria struck in 2017. But in that case, it took Loon four weeks to get the balloons online. The difference in Peru is that Loon was already negotiating a commercial contract […]