Google suffers SA Internet crash, literally

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4 February 2015 News

Not even tech giants like Google are immune to Internet crashes, but in one strange case late last year, the man who uncovered the incident was a farmer in the Karoo.

Initially believing a crashed object he had spotted in the area he farms to be a weather balloon, Urbanus Botha and his family later discovered the words ‘Made in the USA’ and ‘Google X’ marked on it. Taking to Google’s own Internet search engine, they soon discovered that what they had found was part of Project Loon, a futuristic endeavour to provide high-speed Internet access to underserviced regions of the globe. After contacting Google to report the discovery, a special recovery team was swiftly dispatched to retrieve the balloon from the Bothas.

A Project Loon test balloon being launched.

Joining the ever-growing portfolio of high-tech research and development projects under the ‘Google X’ umbrella, Project Loon employs balloons carrying electronics at altitudes of 32 kilometres, high above commercial airspace. These balloons communicate with one another to form a floating, wireless network to which Internet users on the ground can connect using an appropriate transceiver. Applications extend beyond Internet access to rural and remote areas, with a quickly deployable communications solution to disaster areas being a key scenario.

Currently achievable data rates are said to be in the 3G range, and pilot projects launched in several countries, including South Africa, have been generally well received. Concerns have, however, been raised by some working on the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) project, who worry that Loon’s use of the 2,4 GHz ISM band may create interference in the mid-band frequency range (0,5 GHz to 3 GHz) used in the SKA project.

Although the price tag for the project has not been divulged, Google envisions a future when literally thousands of the balloons will populate earth’s skies. The Karoo balloon crash follows ones in Washington, USA, and New Zealand earlier in 2014.

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Google suffers SA Internet crash, literally

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