Google is launching Internet-beaming
antennas into the stratosphere aboard
giant, jellyfish-shaped balloons with
the lofty goal of getting the entire
planet online.
Eighteen months in the works, the top-
secret project was announced
Saturday in New Zealand, where up to
50 volunteer households are already
beginning to receive the Internet
briefly on their home computers via
translucent helium balloons that sail
by on the wind 12 miles above Earth.
While the project is still in the very
early testing stages, Google hopes
eventually to launch thousands of the
thin, polyethylene-film inflatables and
bring the Internet to some of the more
remote parts of the globe, narrowing
the digital divide between the 2.2
billion people who are online and the
4.8 billion who aren't.
If successful, the technology might
allow countries to leapfrog the
expense of installing fiber-optic cable,
dramatically increasing Internet usage
in places such as Africa and Southeast
Asia.
"It's a huge moonshot, a really big goal
to go after," said project leader Mike
Cassidy. "The power of the Internet is
probably one of the most
transformative technologies of our
time."
The so-called Project Loon was
developed in the clandestine Google X
lab that also came up with a driverless
car and Google's Web-surfing
eyeglasses.
Google would not say how much it is
investing in the project or how much
customers will be charged when it is
up and running.
The first person to get Google Balloon
Internet access this week was Charles
Nimmo, a farmer and entrepreneur in
the small town of Leeston who signed
up for the experiment. Technicians
attached a bright red, basketball-size
receiver resembling a giant Google
map pin to the outside of his home.
In a successful preliminary test,
Nimmo received the Internet for about
15 minutes before the 49-foot-wide
transmitting balloon he was relying on
floated out of range. The first thing he
did was check the weather forecast
because he wanted to find out if it was
a good time for "crutching" his sheep,
or removing the wool around their
rear ends.
Nimmo is among the many rural folk,
even in developed countries, who can't
get broadband access. After ditching
his dial-up four years ago in favor of
satellite Internet service, he has gotten
stuck with bills that sometimes exceed
$1,000 a month.
"It's been weird," Nimmo said of the
Google Balloon Internet experience.
"But it's been exciting to be part of
something new."
In recent years, military and
aeronautical researchers have used
tethered balloons to beam Internet
signals back to bases on Earth.
Google's balloons would be untethered
and out of sight, strung out in a line
around the globe. They would ride the
winds around the world while Google
ground controllers adjusted their
altitude to keep them moving along the
desired route.
Ground stations about 60 miles apart
would bounce Internet signals up to
the balloons. The signals would hop
backward from one balloon to the next
to keep people continuously
connected. Solar panels attached to
the inflatables would generate
electricity to power the Internet circuit
boards, radios and antennas, as well as
the onboard flight-control equipment.
Each balloon would provide Internet
service for an area twice the size of
New York City, or about 780 square
miles, and because of their high
altitude, rugged terrain is not a
problem. The balloons could even
beam the Internet into Afghanistan's
steep and winding Khyber Pass.
"Whole segments of the population
would reap enormous benefits, from
social inclusion to educational and
economic opportunities," said DePauw
University media studies professor
Kevin Howley.
Once in place, the light but durable
balloons wouldn't interfere with
aviation because they fly twice as high
as airplanes and well below satellites,
said Richard DeVaul, an MIT-trained
scientist who founded Project Loon
and helped develop Google Glass,
eyeglasses with a tiny, voice controlled
computer display.
In the U.S., however, Google would
have to notify the Federal Aviation
Administration when the balloons are
on their way up or down. The
company is talking with regulators in
other countries about meeting their
requirements.
The Internet signals travel in the
unlicensed spectrum, which means
Google doesn't have to go through the
onerous regulatory processes required
for Internet providers using wireless
communications networks or satellites.
At this stage, the company is putting a
few dozen balloons up over New
Zealand and then bringing them down
after a short period. Later this year,
Google hopes to have as many as 300
of them circling the globe continuously
along the 40th parallel, on a path that
takes them over New Zealand,
Australia, Chile and Argentina.
Covering the whole world would
require thousands of the balloons. No
timetable has been set for that.
Google chose New Zealand in part
because of its remoteness. Some
Christchurch residents were cut off
from the Internet for weeks after a
2011 earthquake that killed 185
people. Google said balloon access
could help places suffering natural
disasters get back online quickly.
"The potential of a system that can
restore connectivity within hours of a
crisis hitting is tremendously exciting,"
said Imogen Wall at the U.N. Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs, although she warned that the
service must be robust. "If the service
fails in a crisis, then lives are lost."
Temple University communications
professor Patrick Murphy warned of
mixed consequences, pointing to China
and Brazil as places where Internet
service promoted democratic
principles but also contributed to a
surge in consumerism that has
resulted in environmental and health
problems.
"The nutritional and medical
information, farming techniques,
democratic principles those are the
wonderful parts of it," he said. "But
you also have everyone wanting to
drive a car, eat a steak, drink a Coke."
Already the world's largest advertising
network, Google stands to expand its
own empire by bringing the Internet
to more corners of the Earth. More
users means more potential Google
searchers, which in turn translates
into more chances for the company to
display ads.
Richard Bennett, a fellow with the
nonprofit Information Technology and
Innovation Foundation, was skeptical
of the project, noting that smartphones
are increasingly being used in
developing countries.
"I'm really glad that Google is doing
this kind of speculative research," he
said. "But it remains to be seen how
practical any of these things are."
Before heading to New Zealand,
Google spent a few months secretly
launching two to five flights a week in
California's Central Valley.
"People were calling in reports about
UFOs," DeVaul said.
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