Don’t you hate it when you go for a mountain walk through “the middle of nowhere” and there’s no internet access? Well don’t worry, Google has a solution – it plans on sending high-altitude balloons into the stratosphere to give the world Wi-Fi.
Only Google could dream something this big, and this awesome and then call it Project Loon. The project is coming straight out of Google’s X Lab which is responsible for bringing the world Google Glass and self-driving cars, and plans on sending up hundreds of thousands of high-pressure balloons to circle the earth and giving internet to billions.
The balloons, which once in the stratosphere will be twice as high as commercial airliners and barely visible to the naked eye, are then able to communicate with each other, forming a mesh network in the sky.
The ultimate goal for Google is to have a massive network around the world where no one won’t be able to access the internet.
The program will launch first in New Zealand before being tested in Northern Tasmania in mid-2014.
This is going to be awesome.
http://youtu.be/m96tYpEk1Ao
http://youtu.be/mcw6j-QWGMo