Why Google's Project Loon can't help fix the internet in Puerto Rico
Hurricane Maria demolished Puerto Rico’s brittle electrical grid in one slash across the island. In doing so, it also took the broadband infrastructure with it. A fix could soon be high-altitude concepts for beaming internet to disaster-stricken areas from the sky, but innovations such as X's Project Loon (X is an innovation lab within Google's parent company, Alphabet) are still in their R&D phase, and not yet ready to be deployed.
For the uninitiated, Project Loon involves balloons that sail through brisk winds at some 65,000 feet of altitude. Dangling from these balloons are receivers that are capable of streaming internet to and from phones on the ground below.
Although the internet-beaming balloons have yet to be deployed in Puerto Rico, X is considering the option:
"We’re working hard with the Puerto Rican authorities to see if there's a way for us to use Loon balloons to bring some emergency connectivity to the island during this time of need," an X spokesperson said in a statement sent to Mashable.
Project Loon seems like a particularly encouraging solution because this balloon technology was successfully deployed when extreme flooding knocked out communications in Peru, back in May. The circumstances between Peru and Puerto Rico, however, are far different. Before the floods hit, Project Loon was already testing for connectivity with a Peruvian telecommunication company, Telefonica.
"We were able to connect people in Peru quickly because we were already working closely with Telefonica on some testing; in this case, things are a little more complicated because we're starting from scratch," X told Mashable.
In Peru, Project Loon was able to send "teams of balloons" to the communication-less areas. The emergency experiment worked: The head of project Loon, Alastair Westgarth, wrote that tens of thousands of Peruvians were provided internet.
"More than 160 GB of data has been sent to people over a combined area of 40,000km2 — that’s roughly the size of Switzerland — and enough data to send and receive around 30 million WhatsApp messages, or 2 million emails," wrote Westgarth.
Just like in Peru, Project Loon can't simply send high-altitude balloons to the region without first establishing a connection to telecommunication providers. "In order to deliver a signal to people’s devices, Loon needs be integrated with a telco partner’s network — the balloons can’t do it alone," an X spokesperson told Mashable.
X isn't the only company with these high-flying internet ambitions. Facebook isn't in the balloon business, but is currently testing its internet-streaming Aquila drone. It's a massive unmanned plane with a wingspan greater than a Boeing 737. It's designed to fly at 60,000 feet, and in May Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote these solar-powered drones "will beam internet to remote parts of the world and eventually break the record for longest unmanned aircraft flight."
The X balloons, however, seem significantly further along in development, so there's potential — however small — that Project Loon balloons could be deployed in hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico.
"We’re sorting through a lot of possible options now and are grateful for the support we’re getting on the ground," said X in a statement sent to Mashable. And while Puerto Rico is still reeling, it might take more than internet balloons to help — at least for now.
This story has been updated with a correction. The name "Google X" has been changed to the company's correct name, which is "X."
Topics Facebook Innovations
Mark was the science editor at Mashable. After working as a ranger with the National Park Service, he started a reporting career after seeing the extraordinary value in educating people about the happenings on Earth, and beyond.
He's descended 2,500 feet into the ocean depths in search of the sixgill shark, ventured into the halls of top R&D laboratories, and interviewed some of the most fascinating scientists in the world.
