The Afterlife Of Google Loon

The internet balloon project lives on, without Google or balloons

In an earlier period of its history, Google became famous for pursuing a range of long-shot projects, such as space elevators and kites that doubled as wind turbines. Among the most whimsical was Loon, a plan to use high-flying balloons to beam superfast internet to areas that more traditional means couldn’t serve. The company shut down the project last year, but some of its key technology is reemerging in what could end up being the fastest long-distance wireless communication system yet created.

Earlier this year, a group of Google research and development veterans founded Aalyria Technologies. The startup turns software used by the Loon group into a cloud-based system that connects satellites, planes, and boats with high-speed internet. It’s also repurposed other Google tech to create a line of laser-based wireless networking equipment. At its office-cum-laboratory in Livermore, Calif., where sculptures of sharks with laser beams attached to their heads dot the walls, Aalyria has its two sets of engineers working on what it believes will be the basis of the networks of the future. The core of the strategy is to become the main platform directing new kinds of high-speed connections. Companies such as SpaceX and Amazon. com Inc. are in the process of putting up tens of thousands of satellites to beam down the internet from space to reach planes, cars, boats, and drones.