US plan to transmit the internet in Cuba via high-altitude balloons

Project Loon-

• Started in 2011 by Alphabet, the parent company of Google.
• The system aimed to bring Internet access to remote and rural areas poorly served by existing provisions, and to improve communication during natural disasters to affected regions.
• The Loon balloons were effectively cell towers the size of a tennis court. 
• The balloons are maneuvered by adjusting their altitude in the stratosphere to float to a wind layer after identifying the wind layer with the desired speed and direction using wind data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). 
• Users of the service connect to the balloon network using a special Internet antenna attached to their building. 
• The signal travels through the balloon network from balloon to balloon, then to a ground-based station connected to an Internet service provider (ISP), then into the global Internet.
• They floated 60,000 to 75,000 feet above the Earth.
• They were made of the plastic polyethylene, and the balloons used solar panels for electricity and could deliver service to smartphones in partnership with a local telecom.
• Though each balloon could serve thousands of people, they had to be replaced every five months or so because of the harsh conditions in the stratosphere. 
• Navigating balloons through the stratosphere was also considered difficult. 
• The project shut down in January, 2021 as it wasn’t commercially viable.
• Some of the technology developed by Loon LLC lives on as Project Taara. 

Following the shutdown of the Project Loon, Project Taara which started its pan-African rollout in Kenya will continue to provide high-speed internet to unconnected and under-connected communities in Kenya.