Page 75 - SAMENA Trends - August 2019

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

balloons are designed and manufactured
to endure the harsh conditions in the
stratosphere, where winds can blow over
100 kilometers per hour, and temperatures
can drop as low as -90 celsius.

A Moonshot from California
Prior to July 2018, when Loon became
an independent company in the Alphabet
family, Loon began its life as “Project
Loon” at Google X, the Moonshot Factory
(Alphabet is the parent company of Google,
so Loon and Google are sister companies).
Google X’s mission is to create radical new
technologies to solve some of the world’s
hardest problems. We all can agree that
one of the world’s hardest problems is that
traditional, ground-based infrastructure
is limited in its ability to provide Internet
access to those in remote or hard-to-cover
areas. Additionally, traditional ground-
based infrastructure is vulnerable to
destruction in natural disasters. Because service provider. We partner with Mobile 2017 floods. And this is just the beginning -
Loon’s balloons navigate wind currents Network Operators (MNOs) to expand Loon is constantly talking to MNOs around
20 kilometers above the Earth, they can the reach of their service. The MNO has the world about potential partnerships..
be arranged in small clusters to provide the customer relationship, while Loon
periods of prolonged connectivity down serves as the infrastructure provider or Ready, Set, Launch!
below. What started as an idea at the “cell tower in the sky.” Together, we help At Loon, we have developed flight
Moonshot Factory several years ago has expand coverage into remote and rural equipment (also known as the “payload”)
come a long way: Loon balloons have locations, upgrade existing networks, and for our balloons that is highly energy
flown over one million hours in Earth’s also provide expedient coverage after efficient and is powered by renewable
stratosphere. In all of those hours aloft, natural disasters. How do users actually energy. Solar panels power the system
Loon’s balloons have traveled nearly 40 receive their Internet connectivity via Loon during the day while charging an onboard
million kilometers — enough to make 100 balloons? A wireless Internet signal is battery to allow for nighttime operations.
trips to the moon or circle the Earth 1,000 transmitted to the nearest Loon balloon Our balloons also carry the antennas
times. from our MNO partner on the ground using that transmit connectivity from ground
a Loon-provided ground station. That stations, across a balloon mesh network,
Partnering with Mobile Network Operators signal is relayed across the Loon balloon and back down to the user’s LTE phone.
Loon itself is not a telecommunications network and down to users on the ground. The flight capsule holds the brains that
In order for users to connect to the Internet command and control the Loon system. A
Loon is developing and whenever a Loon balloon is overhead, they parachute automatically deploys to guide
need the sim card of our MNO partner in
the balloon safely back to Earth after its
deploying technology that country and a standard LTE handset. flight.
to bring the benefits of Each balloon has a coverage area of

the Internet to everyone. around 5,000 square kilometers, which We launch our balloons from sites in
Nevada and Puerto Rico, depending on
Loon balloons travel in is significantly greater than traditional the winds. Our custom-built, two-story tall
the stratosphere, acting ground-based cell towers, which have Autolaunchers are designed to launch Loon
a reach of about 50 square kilometers.
balloons safely and reliably at scale. Side
as floating cell towers, Currently, we are preparing to deploy panels protect the balloon from the wind
to deliver connectivity to commercial service in Kenya with our as it is filled with lift gas and positioned
partner, Telkom Kenya. In Peru, we were
for launch. A crane points downwind to
people in unserved and able to deliver support with our partner, smoothly release the Loon balloon up into
underserved areas around Telefonica, in the Loreto region after a the stratosphere. Each launcher is capable
recent earthquake. We also were able to
the world. provide service after Peru’s devastating of launching a new balloon into the Loon
network every 30 minutes.

75 AUGUST 2019