Balloon Loon spent 312 days in Earth’s stratosphere

Some users may still remember the sensational project called Project Loon a few years ago, which was an attempt to create such a flight system based on a balloon, which could be extremely useful in terms of its high autonomy and independence. So today, some details have become known regarding one of the last stages of testing this project in the face of one of the last iterations of such a balloon, which flew for a total of about 312 days in the Earth’s stratosphere – and which, after all this time, fell on the territory of Mexico. where it was picked up by experts for further study.

Project Loon is a rather unusual project that one way or another aims to present a conceptually new approach to creating balloons that can stay in the air for a long time and function as a very different type of objects – from monitoring climate stations to delivery vehicles for a certain cargo. As for one of the last units of such a balloon – which more closely resembles not a classic balloon, but something like a rectangular drone with a balloon – some modifications were integrated into its design, allowing it to stay in the stratosphere for a really long time and not have problems with roll. …

Having picked it up after a flight in Mexico, the research team found that the basic systems and structures of the balloon remained practically unchanged and in purpose, which clearly speaks of the positive aspects of such a design.

On the other hand, it is still quite difficult to say how such a balloon concept can be effectively and smoothly applied in modern technological conditions, since the engineering team says that it first needs to carry out the appropriate work to optimize and adjust the main systems, and after that, to conduct larger and more detailed tests – so it is still difficult to say when this kind of flight devices in general can be launched on the wide market.