Loon is building a new layer of the connectivity ecosystem in the stratosphere. From the early days of testing weather balloons, to designing and building custom launch equipment, to providing connectivity to people after natural disasters, we are committed to tackling the challenge of extending internet access worldwide. We are excited to continue this journey as we build new partnerships, innovate new technologies and connect more people, places and things.
Loon and HAPSMobile develop a communications payload for unmanned aircraft system (UAS)
Loon complements terrestrial networks
Loon unites with industry leaders to create HAPS Alliance
Loon achieves over 1 million flights hours in the stratosphere flying 40 million kilometers
Loon connects Peru after earthquake
Loon SDN selected by Telesat
Forming strategic partnerships
Forming a Board of Distinguished Advisors
Loon continues its journey
Helping users in Puerto Rico
Helping out in Peru - how Project Loon has helped connect people in flood zones around Lima, Chimbote, and Piura.
Erik Gore, Project Loon's operations specialist, was on the ground when the floods hit and led the teams efforts to install the ground stations needed to send service up to the balloon network.
We were able to connect tens of thousands in the wake of the floods. This was the first time that Project Loon had been used at this scale to deliver connectivity.
Emergency connectivity in Peru
In early 2017 Peru was hit by the worst flooding seen in decades, with the government declaring more than 800 provinces to be in a state of emergency. Project Loon was conducting small technical trials in Peru at the time, and so with balloons overhead and the potential to help, we opened up Loon connectivity to the general public for the very first time.
Project Loon helped connect people in the flood zones around Piura, Chimbote and Lima
Erik Gore, Project Loon's operations specialist, was on the ground when the floods hit and led the teams efforts to install the ground stations needed to send service up to the balloon network.
One balloon, 98 days
Autolauncher scales operations
Our second autolaunch crane in Puerto Rico pictured here, affectionately named "Chicken Little" after his older brother "Big Bird" who lives in Nevada. Each crane can launch one balloon in just 30 minutes with a handful of operators.
"Chicken Little" is actually not so little, standing at more than 5 stories tall. The autolaunch crane is custom designed and built for Loon, and has dramatically improved our ability to scale up, in the speed and quality of our operations.
3 million kilometers traveled
First LTE connection
Rising quickly over the skies of rural Agua Fria, Brazil, a Loon test flight begins to inflate before its mission to deliver LTE connectivity to a local school gets underway.
Before making breakthroughs with algorithms that now help Loon to navigate the wind, our engineers had to mount antennas on trucks in order to chase the balloons and be underneath them to test service.
Before autolaunch cranes, or balloons that could fly for hundreds of days, a small team ventured to rural Brazil. The goal was to try to connect testers using Loon powered LTE technology for the first time. Loon successfully delivered the internet to a local school in time for their geography lesson.
While the team was in Brazil piloting LTE technology for a local school, Loon’s balloon engineers couldn't resist the opportunity to also test the weather and winds of this new locale. Loon launched 5 Ibis-class balloons (one of which is pictured here) to experience all that comes along with flying along the equator.
First WiFi connection
A brisk winter morning in New Zealand's Canterbury Plains, with the Loon team getting ready to launch.
In the days leading up to our New Zealand pilot tests, the entire team would wake up in the middle of the night and begin balloon launch preparations for when the winds were calmest, right at dawn. Although tiring, it led to some very picturesque working conditions.
New Zealand launch day. Hours after sunrise, a flock of early Loon test flights were high above the skies of Christchurch and the Canterbury Plains in the South island, with Loon’s first real user–a sheep farmer in the plains, connected.
Imagery of a Loon balloon on its way to the stratosphere with New Zealand's Southern Alps in the background has served as a long-standing representation of our mission to connect people everywhere.
500,000 kilometers traveled
Testing an idea
Sometimes early experiments didn't go as planned. Here a team of early Loon engineers chase down a failed launch in California's rural central valley. The garbage bag-looking balloon, although inflated, never got off the ground.
Before designing and building super pressure balloons that are capable of hundreds of days of flight, the team was hard at work understanding the laws of physics in the stratosphere. By using zero-pressure balloons like the one pictured here, the team observed how gas expanded and contracted at extreme temperatures and pressures, to understand their impact on the balloons’ ability to stay afloat.
Early Loon balloon prototypes came in all shapes and sizes, like this rectangular mylar party balloon concept that stood almost 4 stories tall. The concept wasn't utilized, but certainly not for its lack of luster!
Before taking balloons of new and novel design into real world flight, Loon would test its ability to seal and fill these mylar craft. Often, the balloons would be inflated all the way to burst pressures.
This early, circular-shaped balloon prototype was called "the orb."