*I wouldn't want to rain on any Moonshot parades, but isn't this the basic idea behind communications satellites? I don't doubt there's some set of good reasons why Google can't just blanket the earth with some comsats – probably it's launch costs, or spectrum allocation, or some other gatekeeper scheme deliberately set up as Google's barrier to market entry. But that would mean that this is a market disruption rather than any kind of high-tech advance. Maybe Google sees no difference there.
*Except for one aspect: this offhand claim that Google can maneuver balloons in the atmosphere at will, by somehow finding wind currents. One would think that this would be major news in the ballooning community.
Introducing Project Loon: Balloon-powered Internet access
Posted: Friday, June 14, 2013
"The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem.
There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity—jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month’s income.
"Solving these problems isn’t simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we’re unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access...."
