The Loon project is “deflated”, which was key after Hurricane Maria to allow access to the Internet

The Loon project, a subsidiary of Alphabet (Google’s parent company), will no longer operate its balloon system that allowed access to the Internet in remote areas or those affected by a natural disaster.

The closure of this initiative, which began in 2011, was announced yesterday, Thursday, by its executive director, Alastair Westgargh, who indicated that they haven’t found a way to keep costs “low enough” to be sustainable in the long run.

In Kenya, where it was launched as a pilot project last year to cover sparsely populated rural areas, Loon’s technology will stop providing service on March 1, Telkom Kenya detailed.

Loon balloons operate 20 miles above sea level, above air traffic, wildlife, and climatic phenomena.

Its role during Hurricane Maria

Loon balloons were crucial after Hurricane Maria passed through Puerto Rico when most of the population did not have access to the Internet.

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

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

Project Loon balloons, made of polyethylene filaments, are the size of a tennis court and are designed to stay in the stratosphere for more than a hundred days before returning to earth.