The Loon project, which was crucial to enable internet access after Hurricane María, ‘is draining’

The Loon project, a subsidiary of Alphabet (Google’s parent company), will stop operating its balloon system that enables internet access in remote areas or areas hit by natural disasters.

The closure of this initiative, which began in 2011, was announced yesterday, Thursday, by the Executive Director, Alastair Westgargh, who indicated that they have not found a way to keep costs “low enough” to be sustainable in the long term.

In Kenya, where it was launched last year as a pilot project to cover low-density rural areas, Loon’s technology will be discontinued on March 1, Telkom Kenya said.

Loon’s balloons operate 20 kilometers above sea level, above air traffic, wildlife and weather conditions.

Your role during Hurricane Maria

The Loon balloons were pivotal after Puerto Rico’s Hurricane Maria, when most of the population lacked access to the Internet.

It was in October 2017 that it began to provide connectivity using helium balloons installed in the stratosphere and launched from Nevada. At that time more than 100,000 people on the island they benefited.

Project Loon partnered with telecommunications companies to extend the connection to remote areas so that people around the world can access the Internet directly from phones and other devices that support LTE technology.

Made from polyethylene filaments, the Project Loon balloons are the size of a tennis court and are designed to remain in the stratosphere for over a hundred days before returning to Earth.