Project Loon

High-altitude platform stations (HAPS) are effective tools for communication and surveillance because they operate from the stratosphere, much closer to earth than satellites. But how do they stay on track?

Project Loon may have been deflated, but its legacy lives on in Project Taara. The team has salvaged the technology to deliver internet connectivity with lasers, demonstrating the viability in a test between two cities separated by the Congo River.

An internet-beaming balloon has broken a flight record, staying aloft in the stratosphere for 312 days straight. Developed and launched by Loon, the balloon circumnavigated the globe for 10 months, demonstrating the resilience of the network.

​​Project Loon is an audacious concept dreamt up in Google's secretive X lab to connect remote regions of the world through high-flying communications balloons. Now headed up by Google's parent company, Alphabet, the balloons have been green-lighted to take flight over Puerto Rico.

The government of the island nation of Sri Lanka has just announced a partnership with Google that will bring affordable high-speed internet access to every inch of the country using the company's Project Loon balloons.