Loon (Alphabet)
Internet-beaming stratospheric balloons are technically impressive but economically uncompetitive vs. Starlink.
2011 → 2021
$X00M+
Telecom/Moonshot
USA
IdeaProof AI Failure Score
What Happened: The Timeline
2011
Project Loon begins at Google X
2018
Spins off as separate Alphabet company
2020
Starlink launches, offers better economics at scale
Jan 2021
Alphabet shuts down Loon
Root Causes
Loon was an Alphabet moonshot project to provide internet access via high-altitude balloons in the stratosphere. The technology worked — balloons successfully beamed LTE internet in Kenya and Puerto Rico. But the unit economics never closed: each balloon cost hundreds of thousands, lasted months, and covered limited area. SpaceX's Starlink proved to be a more scalable solution with global coverage. Alphabet shut down Loon in January 2021.
Sources & References
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