Loon LLC

Loon LLC
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryInternet and telecommunication
Founded2011; 13 years ago (2011)
Defunct2021; 3 years ago (2021)
ParentAlphabet Inc.
Websiteloon.com
A Loon balloon at the Christchurch launch event in June 2013

Loon LLC was an Alphabet Inc. subsidiary working on providing Internet access to rural and remote areas. The company used high-altitude balloons in the stratosphere at an altitude of 18 km (11 mi) to 25 km (16 mi) to create an aerial wireless network with up to 1 Mbit/s speeds.[1][2][3][4] A reference to the balloons used,[1] Project Loon began as a research and development project by X (formerly Google X) in 2011, but later spun out into a separate company in July 2018.[5] In January 2021, it was announced that the company would be shut down due to lack of profitability.[6][7][8][9]

The balloons were maneuvered by adjusting their altitude in the stratosphere to float to a wind layer with the desired speed and direction, using wind data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Users of the service connected to the balloon network using a special Internet antenna attached to their building. The signal traveled through the balloon network from balloon to balloon, then to a ground-based station connected to an Internet service provider (ISP), then into the global Internet.

In January 2021, Alphabet announced that Loon would be shut down.[7]

  1. ^ a b Levy, Steven (June 14, 2013). "How Google Will Use High-Flying Balloons to Deliver Internet to the Hinterlands". Wired. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  2. ^ "Google to beam Internet from balloons". Agence France-Presse. June 15, 2013. Archived from the original on June 17, 2013. Retrieved June 16, 2013.
  3. ^ "Google launches Project Loon". The New Zealand Herald. June 15, 2013. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  4. ^ Lardinois, Frederic (June 14, 2013). "Google X Announces Project Loon: Balloon-Powered Internet For Rural, Remote And Underserved Areas". TechCrunch. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  5. ^ Koulopoulos, Thomas (July 2018). "The Moonshot to Create the Next Google". Inc. Retrieved July 13, 2018.
  6. ^ Schroeder, Stan (January 22, 2021). "Alphabet gives up on balloon-powered internet". Mashable. Retrieved January 22, 2021.
  7. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :3 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  8. ^ Langley, Hugh. "Google's balloon project Loon crashed, but some investors are happy with CEO Sundar Pichai putting limits on money-burning 'moonshots'". Business Insider. Retrieved January 24, 2021.
  9. ^ Michelle Toh (January 22, 2021). "Alphabet is shutting down Loon, its ambitious internet balloon venture". CNN. Retrieved January 24, 2021.