Interesting Dude I am just a bit concerned how long they will last in that ultra violet battering they will get and if one fails I would hate to be the unlucky person standing in it's downward path to earth

I suspect that balloons are used only in the early testing stages. Then they will transition to something less stupid and more controllable like solar-powered UAVs, even solar-powered UAV blimps are better than this as they do have some kind of control on where they go. Military tech is of course more advanced than this, but they won't lend it to more useful stuff than bombing perceived enemies of the US.

And being one of the poor fellas caught in the digital divide, I endorse this.

the_article said:

"People were calling in reports about UFOs," DeVaul said.

Oh well. This is another side-effect. Conspiracy theorist galore.
GOOGLE IS USING BALLOONS TO COVER A MASSIVE UFO INVASION, PROOF THAT THEY ARE CONTROLLED BY REPTILIANS. No really.

I would hate to be the unlucky person standing in it's downward path to earth

Eyeballing, its weight doesn't go beyond 5 kg, as it uses thin-film solar panels and it's basically a wifi router with a big antenna. So I doubt it has a high-enough density to reach dangerous terminal velocities.

Hum Bob ever dropped the bar of soap on your foot in the shower sorta hurts mate or at least it does me!!

I am surprised it hasn't reached them with their "clout" - putting it on a satellite quite frankly

Posted a video about this Project Loon in Youtube thread: The youtube dump [2]

ICit2lol said:

Hum Bob ever dropped the bar of soap on your foot in the shower sorta hurts mate or at least it does me!!

That's because the soap has a relatively high density and it catches enough speed to hurt even with a short fall. If something is fluffy enough on its own, air attrition will prevent it from reaching dangerous speeds. Most insects (and mice) can fall any distance because of that and still survive because they have a low density, their body acts as a parachute because of their tiny mass. For a human this happens too, and our maximum falling speed is around 200 km/h, so we need a parachute to increase air drag enough that the terminal velocity (maximum falling speed) becomes survivable.

So to sum it up, even in case it ends up on people this may cause pain, but it is not going to cause permanent damage, imho.

I am surprised it hasn't reached them with their "clout" - putting it on a satellite quite frankly

Satellites cost a few hundred millions a pop of launch costs alone. And you cannot re-route satellites in orbit nor launch new ones with a decent timeframe to cover new areas (say areas where a disaster strikes). Also a satellite does have a more limited bandwith-per-user because it has to serve a lot of people to cover costs.

While a blimp or UAV flies much lower than a sat and can get away with less users and a more direct connection to the ground. And costs 2-3 orders of magnitude less.

bobafetthotmail said:

ICit2lol said:

Hum Bob ever dropped the bar of soap on your foot in the shower sorta hurts mate or at least it does me!!

That's because the soap has a relatively high density and it catches enough speed to hurt even with a short fall. If something is fluffy enough on its own, air attrition will prevent it from reaching dangerous speeds. Most insects (and mice) can fall any distance because of that and still survive because they have a low density, their body acts as a parachute because of their tiny mass. For a human this happens too, and our maximum falling speed is around 200 km/h, so we need a parachute to increase air drag enough that the terminal velocity (maximum falling speed) becomes survivable.

So to sum it up, even in case it ends up on people this may cause pain, but it is not going to cause permanent damage, imho.

I am surprised it hasn't reached them with their "clout" - putting it on a satellite quite frankly

Satellites cost a few hundred millions a pop of launch costs alone. And you cannot re-route satellites in orbit nor launch new ones with a decent timeframe to cover new areas (say areas where a disaster strikes). Also a satellite does have a more limited bandwith-per-user because it has to serve a lot of people to cover costs.

While a blimp or UAV flies much lower than a sat and can get away with less users and a more direct connection to the ground. And costs 2-3 orders of magnitude less.

Ah got it thanks Bob

Kari said:

Posted a video about this Project Loon in Youtube thread: The youtube dump [2]

Interesting vid, I didn't notice it until I read this post.

Gary said:

Google will do anything for a buck.

Thankfully they are also prepared to push the boundaries when it comes to internet technology...we should be more grateful