Google, which is hoping to beam the internet to remote areas of the world via balloon, went before the UN's aviation agency to ask member states to let it ply their airspace. The company's X Lab, which was created to pursue big-vision projects, said it hopes to establish a network of helium balloons floating in the stratosphere that will emit a powerful 4G signal to rural and difficult-to-access areas.
The new initiative - launched in 2013 and dubbed "Project Loon" - saw its first balloon take off from South America in February only to crash at a tea plantation in Sri Lanka, where it was discovered by villagers.
Alphabet, the parent company of Google, had partnered with Sri Lanka to bring the internet to remote areas there. The country's Information and Communication Technology Agency, which co-ordinated the tests with Google, described the landing as controlled and scheduled.
Loon has "significantly improved the balloon design, manufacture and launch procedure," X Lab told the UN's International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) Wednesday, according to a document seen by AFP.
"The balloons are now robust, remaining aloft well beyond the targeted 100 days, and are launched through a custom developed auto-launcher, allowing rapid multiple launches," X Lab told the organization's executive committee.
After compiling publicly available wind data with its own flight data, Project Loon was able to model the stratosphere's air flow, allowing its balloons to "change altitude to 'catch' the winds moving at the speed and direction necessary to a given service area," the document said.
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