5.1.1 Historical Timeline
In 2008, Google considered contracting with (or purchasing) Space Data Corp, a
company that sends balloons carrying small base stations 32 km (20 mi) up in the
stratosphere to provide connectivity to truckers and oil companies in the southern
United States. It opted not to do so. Unofficial development on the project began
in 2011 under the incubation of Google X with a series of trial runs in the Central
Valley of California. The project was officially announced as a Google project on
June 14, 2013.
On June 16, 2013, Google began a pilot experiment in New Zealand where 30
or so balloons were launched in the Tekapo area of the South Island in coordination with the Civil Aviation Authority. Some 50 users in and around Christchurch
and the Canterbury region then tested connections to the aerial network using
special antennas. After this initial trial, Google planned on sending 300 balloons
around the world at the 40th parallel south that would provide coverage to New
Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. The plan envisaged thousands of balloons flying in the stratosphere.
In May 2014, Google X laboratories director, Astro Teller, announced that
rather than negotiate a section of bandwidth that would be free for them worldwide they would instead become a temporary base station that could be leased by
the mobile operators of the country it was crossing over. This exploited work
undertaken by their Access Field Development Director, Kai Wulff, who was
involved in fiber and broadband roll-outs in emerging markets from the early
2000’s. In May-June 2014, Google tested its balloon-powered internet access venture in Piauí, Brazil, marking its first LTE experiments and launch near the equator. In 2014, Google partnered on the project with the Centre National d’Etudes
Spatiales (CNES) in France. On July 28, 2015, Google signed an agreement with
the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) in Sri Lanka to
launch their system on a mass scale. As a result, by March 2016 Sri Lanka was the
second country in the world (after Vatican City) to get full coverage using LTE.
In February 2016, Google announced it achieved a laser communication
between two balloons over a distance of 100 km (62 mi). The connection was
stable over many hours and during day and nighttime, and reached a data rate of
155 Mbit/s. Later that month the company began testing their autolauncher named
“Chicken Little” at the Roosevelt Roads former naval station in Ceiba, Puerto
Rico. In May 2017, Space Data launched proceedings for patent infringement but
the case was settled in July 2019.
On October 6, 2017 Google filed a Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) application that cleared the same day granting authorization to start immediately to provide emergency LTE coverage to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of
Hurricane Maria. On October 9 radars observed multiple balloons near Puerto
5.1 Loon 83
In 2008, Google considered contracting with (or purchasing) Space Data Corp, a
company that sends balloons carrying small base stations 32 km (20 mi) up in the
stratosphere to provide connectivity to truckers and oil companies in the southern
United States. It opted not to do so. Unofficial development on the project began
in 2011 under the incubation of Google X with a series of trial runs in the Central
Valley of California. The project was officially announced as a Google project on
June 14, 2013.
On June 16, 2013, Google began a pilot experiment in New Zealand where 30
or so balloons were launched in the Tekapo area of the South Island in coordination with the Civil Aviation Authority. Some 50 users in and around Christchurch
and the Canterbury region then tested connections to the aerial network using
special antennas. After this initial trial, Google planned on sending 300 balloons
around the world at the 40th parallel south that would provide coverage to New
Zealand, Australia, Chile, and Argentina. The plan envisaged thousands of balloons flying in the stratosphere.
In May 2014, Google X laboratories director, Astro Teller, announced that
rather than negotiate a section of bandwidth that would be free for them worldwide they would instead become a temporary base station that could be leased by
the mobile operators of the country it was crossing over. This exploited work
undertaken by their Access Field Development Director, Kai Wulff, who was
involved in fiber and broadband roll-outs in emerging markets from the early
2000’s. In May-June 2014, Google tested its balloon-powered internet access venture in Piauí, Brazil, marking its first LTE experiments and launch near the equator. In 2014, Google partnered on the project with the Centre National d’Etudes
Spatiales (CNES) in France. On July 28, 2015, Google signed an agreement with
the Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) in Sri Lanka to
launch their system on a mass scale. As a result, by March 2016 Sri Lanka was the
second country in the world (after Vatican City) to get full coverage using LTE.
In February 2016, Google announced it achieved a laser communication
between two balloons over a distance of 100 km (62 mi). The connection was
stable over many hours and during day and nighttime, and reached a data rate of
155 Mbit/s. Later that month the company began testing their autolauncher named
“Chicken Little” at the Roosevelt Roads former naval station in Ceiba, Puerto
Rico. In May 2017, Space Data launched proceedings for patent infringement but
the case was settled in July 2019.
On October 6, 2017 Google filed a Federal Communications Commission
(FCC) application that cleared the same day granting authorization to start immediately to provide emergency LTE coverage to Puerto Rico in the aftermath of
Hurricane Maria. On October 9 radars observed multiple balloons near Puerto
5.1 Loon 83