Balloon beams broadband internet from stratosphere
Will Knight writes in NewScientist:
A blisteringly fast data downlink provided by a stratospheric balloon floating 24,000 metres above the Earth has been tested for the first time.
The untethered, 12,000-cubic-metre helium balloon was tested on 31 August for several hours. Analysis now shows the test was a success and sent data to the ground at 1.25 gigabits per second. That is thousands of times the capacity of a home broadband internet connection and the first time such a link has been tested from the stratosphere.
The test craft was developed by the Capanina Consortium – 14 European academic and industry partners funded mainly by the European Union. They hope the craft may be able to provide communications in disaster zones or low-cost internet access in the developing world.
posted by Fergie @ 10/19/2005 05:56:00 AM
1 Comments:
Finally Google has some competition. I remember reading that Google will be attempting to bring free Wi-Fi to the World community via sattelite... Some competition hasn't hurt anyone yet.
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