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Paul O'Rourke
1st Sep 2014, 06:33
Monday 1st September 2014:

http://i692.photobucket.com/albums/vv283/PaulO-001/LOONFW24640X480.jpg

Loon for All ? Project Loon ? Google (http://www.google.com/loon/)

criticalmass
2nd Sep 2014, 03:18
Helium balloon. Seen quite a few of 'em on Flightradar24.

Jack Ranga
2nd Sep 2014, 08:20
There was a loon near Cootamunda last night, does 66,000ft sound about right?

Andy_RR
2nd Sep 2014, 08:48
They go to 100,000' with not much effort.

(Helium balloons, that is)

criticalmass
3rd Sep 2014, 07:15
Max altitude I have seen on Flightradar24 for a loon (or Hbal) is 65,535 feet, doubtless due to the 2-to-the-16th-power limit of the altitude-computer algorithm. Helium balloons can easily top 100,000 feet in reality.

Con_G
3rd Sep 2014, 08:49
Interesting technology, but am I missing something here? Isn't this what satellites are already doing have been for a number of years. Why the need for these balloons?

Happy to be corrected.

belowMDA
3rd Sep 2014, 09:59
Con_G I'm guessing the cost would be somewhat lower than lofting a fleet of satellites.