Alphabet is shutting down its Loon division that provides internet from boats balloons, according to a post on Alphabet X moonshot section blog.
"The road to commercial viability has proven to be much longer and more dangerous than expected," says Astro Teller, who leads X., in the blog. bet for Alphabet. ”
Alphabet, Google's parent company, launched project Loon in June 2013 and became an independent company Alphabet in 2018. Loon launched its first commercial online service in Kenya in July, consisting of a fleet of about 35 balloons covering an area of about 50.000 square kilometers. Loon has also been providing internet services in areas affected by natural disasters, deploying balloons in Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria in 2017 and in Peru after the 2019 earthquake.
Teller reports that Loon is working to recruit employees to other roles at X, Google and Alphabet.
"A little one team της ομάδας Loon θα παραμείνει για να διασφαλίσει ότι οι λειτουργίες της Loon θα ολοκληρωθούν ομαλά και με better safety – this includes terminating Loon's pilot service in Kenya,” according to Teller.
Loon's service in Kenya will cease operations by March, according to a spokesperson for X. To support those who may be affected in Kenya by Loon's shutdown, the company will make available 10 millions dollars to support non-profit organizations and businesses in Kenya dedicated to “connectivity, the Internet, entrepreneurship and education”.
Loon is not the project that Alphabet closed. Last year it also closed Makani project, which aimed to use wind turbines connected to kites to generate renewable electricity. In 2016, Project Foghorn also closed, which was researching how to create clean seawater fuel.
To laugh a little, let's take a look at all the projects that google has (at times) closed (see alphabet), by clicking on:
https://killedbygoogle.com/