Since turning on service, #ProjectLoon has delivered basic internet connectivity to more than 100K people in Puerto Rico. https://t.co/s0zmFB9dRy — The Team at X (@Theteamatx) November 9, 2017
It's not a total success, which isn't to be expected after Puerto Ricans' communications infrastructure suffered so much damage. But the team was able to work with AT&T and T-Mobile to get "communication and internet activities like sending text messages and accessing information online for some people with LTE enabled phones," head of Project Loon Alastair Westgarth wrote in a blog post. The team launched their balloons from Nevada and used machine learning algorithms to direct them over Puerto Rico, where they've been relaying internet from working ground networks over to users in unconnected areas.
In the post, Westgarth noted that Project Loon has never fired up internet from scratch this rapidly, and will improve their ability to keep balloons in place (and deliver sustained connectivity) as they become familiar with the air currents. They owed a lot to all manner of collaborators, from the mobile carriers to Pan-American and Puerto Rican governments' aviation authorities to local communications companies.
"In times of crisis, being able to communicate with loved ones, emergency services and critical information is key," Westgarth said in a statement provided to Engadget. "We hope that the connectivity Project Loon has provided over the last few weeks has been helpful, and would like to thank AT&T, T-Mobile, and our government partners who made these efforts possible."
luisro92 on November 10th, 2017 at 17:59 UTC »
Puerto Rican here, can confirm. Posting this message thanks to project Loon. Thank You for keeping me mentally sane.
Howaboutnein on November 10th, 2017 at 16:34 UTC »
I found out about this a while ago through a really cool coincidence.
My marching band was at a competition in Savannah, GA and as we were warming up my section noticed a white dot in the sky. There were a ton of guesses, ranging from the Chinese space station to my guess of a high altitude small airplane. I checked a flight tracker and saw it was a balloon named HBAL033 at 57,000 feet over us. We gazed at it until the sunset made it disappear.
It wasn't until later that night in the car when I thought to look up what it was tagged with, Project Loon, and found out what it is. It easily could've been on its way to Puerto Rico from Nevada at that time.
Edit: Here's a screenshot of the tracker and pictures of the balloon
Nod to /u/schadwick for reminding me
pohen on November 10th, 2017 at 13:53 UTC »
This is awesome - while it's not perfect or reaching everyone, Natural disasters is the perfect use of this.
I wouldn't be surprised if FEMA ended up acquiring this OR at least officially partnering with Google to establish plans to regularly do this in future disasters where cell towers go down.