WEBVTT - TechStuff Classic: The Loons at Google 0:00:04.400 --> 0:00:07.800 Welcome to tech Stuff, a production from my Heart Radio. 0:00:12.000 --> 0:00:15.120 Hey there, and welcome to tech Stuff. I'm your host, 0:00:15.280 --> 0:00:19.840 Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with I Heart Radio 0:00:19.880 --> 0:00:23.279 and I love all things tech and today it is 0:00:23.320 --> 0:00:26.600 time to look back at another classic episode of tech Stuff. 0:00:26.600 --> 0:00:30.560 This one is titled The Loons at Google and originally 0:00:30.600 --> 0:00:34.760 published on November twenty two. We're going to talk about 0:00:35.040 --> 0:00:38.919 Project loon, which actually has had some developments since we 0:00:38.960 --> 0:00:42.560 recorded this, but I'll talk about that in a little bit. First, 0:00:42.800 --> 0:00:46.720 let's listen to this classic episode. We will continue our 0:00:46.800 --> 0:00:52.840 exciting delivery the Google Balloon WiFi project. Let's begin. Actually, 0:00:52.920 --> 0:00:55.520 that's that's that's that's way too low key. I'm sorry, guys. 0:00:55.560 --> 0:00:58.360 I I've had a long day. So what is this? 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.840 What is this idea? Balloon wos WiFi Google? These are 0:01:01.880 --> 0:01:06.920 just words, Lauren. He's talking about Google Loon UM and 0:01:07.040 --> 0:01:10.160 this entire project got started off because according to Google, 0:01:10.160 --> 0:01:13.200 who would probably know, about two thirds of the world's population, 0:01:13.400 --> 0:01:16.560 some five to six billion people don't have Internet access. 0:01:16.720 --> 0:01:19.399 And I mean they're not talking like their wifis down today. 0:01:20.200 --> 0:01:23.000 They have no internet access, zero way to get to 0:01:23.040 --> 0:01:26.479 the Internet. Um. And so so Google, this this team 0:01:26.480 --> 0:01:28.400 and Google, which we will talk about later, came up 0:01:28.400 --> 0:01:31.280 with this concept that they could have a network of 0:01:31.319 --> 0:01:35.200 balloons providing WiFi access. Yeah, so you're essentially you're creating 0:01:35.200 --> 0:01:40.360 this radio wave network and the instead of building towers 0:01:40.400 --> 0:01:42.840 like you would with a three G or four G 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.880 type thing. So so you know that way, we would 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:48.000 normally build a tower right in the middle of nowhere 0:01:48.040 --> 0:01:50.240 and then have a network of towers and that would 0:01:50.240 --> 0:01:52.200 be your cellular network or would be your four G 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:54.360 network or whatever, and that's how you would get access 0:01:54.360 --> 0:01:56.920 to the Internet. But this is a more expensive and 0:01:56.960 --> 0:01:59.720 that's infrastructure. And yeah, and you have to you have 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:02.320 to you where to build things. You've got to get 0:02:02.360 --> 0:02:04.600 the permission to build where you want to build. Some 0:02:04.640 --> 0:02:06.520 of these places might be really remote and it might 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:08.440 be difficult to build out that bar the use of 0:02:08.480 --> 0:02:10.760 some of the radio signals can get tricky sometimes. So 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:13.640 what if you were instead to have everything that would 0:02:13.720 --> 0:02:16.640 be mounted on a tower in held by a balloon, 0:02:16.800 --> 0:02:20.400 a giant balloon that could fly at incredible altitudes and 0:02:20.440 --> 0:02:24.400 provide and bounce Internet signals are around, you know, to 0:02:24.560 --> 0:02:27.200 the balloons and then to two receivers on the ground 0:02:27.280 --> 0:02:30.119 antenna that are privately owned. Yes, so this is all 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:33.880 part of a division within Google called Google X, and 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:37.560 Google X is kind of the super secret uh division. 0:02:39.520 --> 0:02:41.280 That's a hey, you know, that's a preview for an 0:02:41.320 --> 0:02:45.400 upcoming episode, but yeah, it's it's what would be used 0:02:45.560 --> 0:02:49.840 as a way of doing rapid research and development on projects. 0:02:49.840 --> 0:02:53.200 And in fact, the guy who is essentially UH, Sergey 0:02:53.200 --> 0:02:56.000 brin Is, is really in charge of Google X, but 0:02:56.040 --> 0:03:00.000 there are other people who oversee these projects. Their roles 0:03:00.000 --> 0:03:02.440 supposedly is that they look at projects and look for 0:03:02.480 --> 0:03:04.600 reasons to kill them and says that, you know, we 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:07.000 kill projects really quickly, and you have to be able 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:10.720 to justify your projects exact worthfulness that's a great work. 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:13.520 Full of worth is what we're looking for, and if 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:15.560 it is not, then we will get rid of it. 0:03:15.880 --> 0:03:19.440 So so hypothetically, each of these balloons will will serve 0:03:19.480 --> 0:03:22.520 a ground area some forty or twenty five miles in 0:03:22.560 --> 0:03:26.160 diameter at three G ish speeds, which is not bad, 0:03:26.280 --> 0:03:28.320 especially when you're thinking about a place that has never 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:31.200 had an Internet before. Like you know, for anyone who's 0:03:31.280 --> 0:03:34.400 used to really fast internet, three G sounds like a 0:03:34.400 --> 0:03:37.560 major step down for me. It sounds incredible because I 0:03:37.600 --> 0:03:42.320 remember back when I had a dial up modem. Yeah, 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:46.119 so three G speeds is pretty fast to go from 0:03:46.160 --> 0:03:49.119 nothing to three g is is that's a that's huge, right? 0:03:49.360 --> 0:03:51.440 And uh and and you know we were talking about 0:03:51.560 --> 0:03:56.280 talking earlier about that cellular tower network kind of concept 0:03:56.320 --> 0:03:58.400 and and this is like it's it's not really like 0:03:58.400 --> 0:04:01.440 a satellite system as much as like a like a 0:04:01.440 --> 0:04:04.360 cellular tower network where and the towers are moving instead 0:04:04.360 --> 0:04:08.480 of the users. Right, So the towers themselves will float 0:04:08.920 --> 0:04:13.120 and they'll all float on Okay, uh, and they will 0:04:13.880 --> 0:04:19.679 essentially change better than we sat down here. Thank you. Yeah, yeah, 0:04:19.839 --> 0:04:23.320 there's a that's now I've got nothing but Tim Curry 0:04:23.360 --> 0:04:25.280 going through my head at this point. Thanks so much 0:04:25.320 --> 0:04:28.600 for that vision. No problem. So these loon balloons, um, 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:33.360 they're they're set to float in the stratosphere. I need 0:04:33.440 --> 0:04:37.040 some details here, Lauren. What is the stratosphere? I mean, 0:04:37.080 --> 0:04:39.479 I hear like, I think this is going to the stratosphere, 0:04:39.520 --> 0:04:42.400 So I assume it's high up for something pretty high, 0:04:42.760 --> 0:04:45.520 all right. It is the second layer of the Earth's atmosphere, 0:04:45.720 --> 0:04:48.120 which is about ten to fifty kilometers a k a 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:52.279 thirty thousand to nine thousand feet a k a six 0:04:52.320 --> 0:04:55.760 to thirty seven miles above the surface. It's all of 0:04:55.760 --> 0:04:59.080 this is is pretty approximate and rough because you know, 0:04:59.160 --> 0:05:02.560 the it changes as the altitude is the altitude of 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:05.480 the ground level changing, right, So like in mountainous areas, 0:05:05.480 --> 0:05:08.400 it's different than if you're at the Dead Sea or something, right, 0:05:08.440 --> 0:05:11.599 so or or Death Valley is really what I was 0:05:11.600 --> 0:05:14.440 thinking of. But anyway, so sure the dead Sea is 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:17.120 relatively low to yeah, yeah, you know, it's it's not 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:19.880 high up on my list at any rate. It's a 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:23.320 good spot to locate this, right because at that level, 0:05:23.520 --> 0:05:27.880 you're really floating above weather patterns. Right, most of the 0:05:27.880 --> 0:05:31.000 clouds and and and everything, all the storms and stuff 0:05:31.000 --> 0:05:33.719 are going to happen in the troposphere, which is you 0:05:33.720 --> 0:05:36.520 know where we are, So that's the stuff that's all 0:05:36.520 --> 0:05:40.880 around us and above the stress sphere is the miso sphere, right, 0:05:41.480 --> 0:05:45.240 and so we've got this this region where if the 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:47.680 balloons are traveling through this, they're going to avoid all 0:05:47.680 --> 0:05:50.560 those storms. It's also important because as I understand it, 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.000 when we get to it, their power source is going 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:57.240 to be heavily depend upon not having clouds in the way. Absolutely. Um, 0:05:57.240 --> 0:06:00.840 it's also above most birds and jet planes, so you're 0:06:00.880 --> 0:06:04.000 going to avoid interference with that stuff, right, Yeah, because 0:06:04.040 --> 0:06:08.080 most commercial jets travel at around thirty five thousand feet 0:06:08.160 --> 0:06:10.440 or so, So if it's in the stratosphere at you know, 0:06:10.839 --> 0:06:13.560 a hundred thousand feet, it's well over what most commercial 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:16.800 jets are traveling at. Even at a hundred thousand you're 0:06:16.800 --> 0:06:21.839 even talking about higher than most surveillance vehicles unless there's 0:06:22.279 --> 0:06:23.880 some secret ones out there that we don't know about, 0:06:23.920 --> 0:06:27.120 which is totally possible, entirely possible. I've never been to 0:06:27.200 --> 0:06:29.080 telescope that way myself, so it's hard for me to 0:06:29.120 --> 0:06:32.440 say they're they're supposed to be around right around twenty 0:06:32.520 --> 0:06:35.960 kilometers or sixty six thousand feet or twelve miles about 0:06:36.000 --> 0:06:37.919 the surface, so not not quite at that hundred thousand 0:06:37.960 --> 0:06:40.320 mile mark, but pretty high up, yeah, really high up. 0:06:40.440 --> 0:06:43.560 So no, it is called the stratosphere, and this is important. 0:06:43.560 --> 0:06:47.120 It's not just useless weather related information because because it's 0:06:47.160 --> 0:06:51.760 stratified or layered in, temperature getting warmer as it goes higher. Now, 0:06:51.839 --> 0:06:55.440 the troposphere where we are gets colder as it goes higher. 0:06:55.480 --> 0:06:57.320 So this is this is a little bit of a 0:06:57.440 --> 0:07:01.800 of a difference, and thanks to that temperature differentiation, the 0:07:01.880 --> 0:07:05.400 layers are going to contain different currents of relatively slow 0:07:05.440 --> 0:07:09.520 winds that are going in different directions. So in other words, 0:07:09.680 --> 0:07:13.880 if you are able to control the altitude of a balloon, 0:07:14.440 --> 0:07:17.480 you would be able to change direction right to get 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:19.520 it into those different air streams and move it around 0:07:19.760 --> 0:07:22.559 pretty much as you please. That will also come into 0:07:22.600 --> 0:07:25.760 play in a little bit. It's just a little teaser. Uh, 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.400 you know, it's um. It's also where the ozone layer is, right, 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:33.040 that is correct. So this is obviously if for those 0:07:33.080 --> 0:07:35.240 of you who were around in the eighties and you 0:07:35.280 --> 0:07:38.720 remember hearing about the ozone layer uh a lot every 0:07:38.760 --> 0:07:41.400 day getting destroyed by all of our hair spray. Uh. 0:07:41.520 --> 0:07:43.640 This is the layer of the atmosphere where you would 0:07:43.680 --> 0:07:45.560 find the ozone layer. By the way, that also is 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:49.240 why you know, you hear about stuff that produces ozone 0:07:49.280 --> 0:07:51.960 and people talk about how that's bad, and you might 0:07:52.200 --> 0:07:55.119 get a mixed reaction there. You're thinking, wait, I remember 0:07:55.160 --> 0:07:57.200 the ozone layer was going away and that was bad, 0:07:57.240 --> 0:07:59.120 But now there's these other things that make ozone and 0:07:59.160 --> 0:08:02.120 that's bad. It's because of the location of those on 0:08:02.200 --> 0:08:04.960 layers of the strassphere. That's where it's useful for us. 0:08:05.400 --> 0:08:08.480 But ozone down here in the troposphere is bad news 0:08:08.640 --> 0:08:11.120 and not useful for us. So that's why it gets 0:08:11.120 --> 0:08:14.400 a little confusing. So yeah, so it's a pretty elegant system. 0:08:14.640 --> 0:08:17.440 I mean, the basic concept is is if you launch 0:08:17.480 --> 0:08:20.320 these balloons, then uh, and we will get into the 0:08:20.320 --> 0:08:22.320 construction of those in just a moment, then you can 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:25.239 you can use these air currents to let them travel 0:08:25.560 --> 0:08:28.640 basically as they will, but in a relatively controlled manner. Right, 0:08:28.680 --> 0:08:31.080 So if it starts going too far off, you can 0:08:31.200 --> 0:08:34.160 change the altitude of the balloon using whatever control mechanism 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:36.960 you've set up, and then that way it will drift 0:08:37.320 --> 0:08:39.920 in a different direction, hopefully back toward where you wanted 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:41.760 to go. But if you were able to make a 0:08:41.920 --> 0:08:45.880 large enough network of these, then presumably you could just 0:08:46.000 --> 0:08:48.920 allow them to drift across the countryside, because another one 0:08:48.920 --> 0:08:52.000 would pick up the slacker for the first one, creating 0:08:52.040 --> 0:08:56.600 a more or less continuous ring of connectivity. There's also 0:08:56.880 --> 0:09:00.880 pretty amazing just imagining this ring of balloons circling globe 0:09:01.000 --> 0:09:05.720 and slowly providing WiFi to everybody. So let's talk about 0:09:05.720 --> 0:09:09.200 what these things are actually made out of. So it's 0:09:09.240 --> 0:09:11.600 not like a balloon that you would find at a 0:09:11.679 --> 0:09:15.719 kid's birthday party, not exactly. No, um, okay. So so 0:09:15.760 --> 0:09:18.080 it's going to consist of of the balloon itself. It's 0:09:18.120 --> 0:09:22.000 called the envelope, and that's made of sheets of polythylene plastic, 0:09:22.000 --> 0:09:24.160 which is a really large family of plastics with a 0:09:24.160 --> 0:09:27.200 whole range of flexibilities and other properties. It's used for 0:09:27.240 --> 0:09:31.800 everything from like film to juice bottles, cable jacketing, car bumpers, 0:09:31.840 --> 0:09:34.760 and plastic shopping bags, which the team says, the balloons 0:09:34.760 --> 0:09:37.520 are really similar to if some three times thicker. Yeah, 0:09:37.559 --> 0:09:39.680 the bags are three times thicker, I should say, because 0:09:39.679 --> 0:09:43.200 the balloon is three mill thick. Now, mill is actually 0:09:43.320 --> 0:09:47.120 a measurement here, we're talking about point zero seven six millimeters. 0:09:47.520 --> 0:09:52.240 That's how thin this envelope is. Point zero seven six millimeters. Now, 0:09:52.559 --> 0:09:56.600 that is incredibly thin. This polyethylene sheet is is very 0:09:56.760 --> 0:09:59.800 very vulnerable. So you have to be very careful when 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:03.600 you unfolded before you inflated, obviously, because otherwise just the 0:10:03.640 --> 0:10:06.880 tiniest uh probably yeah, yeah, you end up with a 0:10:06.880 --> 0:10:10.080 big ripping it. Um this by the way is very 0:10:10.160 --> 0:10:13.720 similar to the balloon that was used by Felix Baumgartner 0:10:14.080 --> 0:10:17.840 who did his space jump, where he flew as high 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.240 up as anyone had ever done in a balloon and 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.160 higher in fact, and set a world record, and then 0:10:23.240 --> 0:10:26.319 jumped all of the balloon to plummet to the Earth, 0:10:26.760 --> 0:10:29.719 because that's what same people do. No, it's actually it 0:10:30.080 --> 0:10:32.200 was a really good TV. It was a phenomenal I 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:34.880 mean I watched it. I watched it from I missed 0:10:34.880 --> 0:10:37.160 the very beginning because I was I remember I was 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:39.360 out at the time, but I got home, turned it 0:10:39.400 --> 0:10:41.839 on and it was still during the earliest part of 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:44.640 the ascent, so he was maybe I don't know, ten 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:46.760 thousand feet up. I was glued to that thing. It 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:51.040 was incredible. So anyway, the balloons that they're using, or 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:54.079 that they will use for this, they've got a pilot 0:10:54.120 --> 0:10:56.400 program we'll talk about in the bit, but the for 0:10:56.520 --> 0:10:58.959 the full rollout, it's very similar to the balloon that 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.440 Felix Baumgartner. You and in fact it's it's provided by 0:11:01.480 --> 0:11:03.760 the same company. It's Raven Arrow Stars the name of 0:11:03.760 --> 0:11:09.440 the company. And uh so these incredibly thin balloons get 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.840 pretty big as I recall, Yeah, about fifteen wid by 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:16.680 twelve meters tall, which is about fifty BYTT when inflated. Yeah, 0:11:16.720 --> 0:11:19.320 and they don't get fully inflated until they've reached a 0:11:19.320 --> 0:11:21.640 certain altitude. And it's another one of those things like 0:11:21.640 --> 0:11:25.840 if you watch the Felix Baumgartner uh ascent, you saw 0:11:25.920 --> 0:11:28.920 that the shape of the balloon actually changed quite a 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:31.120 bit as it went up. You know, it went from 0:11:31.520 --> 0:11:35.480 kind of this bulbous balloon to an elongated tear drop 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:37.240 kind of shape. And that's more or less what these 0:11:37.280 --> 0:11:39.760 would look like once they reached the right altitude. So 0:11:39.800 --> 0:11:42.960 what is giving them the lift? That would be helium gas, 0:11:43.120 --> 0:11:45.599 good old helium. Yes, that's not a bad choice. I 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.360 mean it's you know, it's hard to get ahold of 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.200 comparatively speaking in the sense that we talked about how 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.760 helium is one of those resources that's increasingly difficult for 0:11:54.880 --> 0:11:56.560 us to get, and we need it for lots of 0:11:56.600 --> 0:11:59.560 different stuff, including things like cooling down super colliders so 0:11:59.559 --> 0:12:03.880 that we can you you know, universe level science. But 0:12:04.679 --> 0:12:08.559 it's still i would say, preferable to something like hydrogen, 0:12:09.080 --> 0:12:13.040 which can go boom, right, absolutely doesn't go boom. Helium 0:12:13.120 --> 0:12:15.360 will make you talk funny if you breathe it, but 0:12:15.559 --> 0:12:19.080 other it do won't make you go boom hypothetically, not 0:12:19.360 --> 0:12:22.080 unless something else is very very wrong. Yeah, I would 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:25.720 say maybe physics have somehow changed in your local area. 0:12:25.840 --> 0:12:29.680 Then I suggest you find shelter. But so these these balloons, 0:12:29.720 --> 0:12:32.480 these balloons are filled with helium gas and um. They 0:12:32.520 --> 0:12:36.079 contain a pump to control the fill of the balloon 0:12:36.280 --> 0:12:39.160 UM that would allow you to make a descent if 0:12:39.160 --> 0:12:42.079 you needed to, or a further ascent. Right, So that's 0:12:42.160 --> 0:12:44.720 that's how they can control where the balloon is going 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.720 by using this pump to either vent out or put 0:12:47.760 --> 0:12:51.240 in more helium um. It also includes a parachute in 0:12:51.280 --> 0:12:55.600 case of some kind of popping related emergency wherein you 0:12:55.640 --> 0:12:57.680 need to get the equipment back to the ground without 0:12:59.000 --> 0:13:01.560 yeah or possibly smooshing someone underneath it if it's in 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:05.000 a populated area. So that makes sense. And then what 0:13:05.120 --> 0:13:07.400 I love about this is that how do you how 0:13:07.400 --> 0:13:10.240 do you power the electronics? I mean, obviously you've got 0:13:10.320 --> 0:13:12.480 some sort of transmitter and a receiver up there. You 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:14.800 would have to write, so the receiver is going to 0:13:14.880 --> 0:13:19.760 take the the information that's been essentially broadcast out from 0:13:19.840 --> 0:13:23.600 the user and then transmit the new information down to 0:13:23.640 --> 0:13:26.360 the user. And that's how you get your Internet access. 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.040 But that means that you have to get electricity somewhere 0:13:29.080 --> 0:13:31.760 because these things just don't run on helium and the 0:13:31.840 --> 0:13:35.600 pump doesn't run on helium itself. Point uh. And that 0:13:35.640 --> 0:13:37.080 would be I mean, you know, if you were doing 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:39.720 this in Victorian times, would have a really fancy steam engine, 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:45.320 that would be need an enormous balloon. Um. But but 0:13:45.440 --> 0:13:47.920 in this case, we're powering it with solar panels UM, 0:13:48.240 --> 0:13:50.839 just just a really thin layer UM kind of hanging 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:53.520 in between the envelope of the balloon and the hardware 0:13:53.559 --> 0:13:56.439 that's going to hang out below and UM. In full sun, 0:13:56.480 --> 0:13:59.079 it's supposed to produce about a hundred wats and so 0:13:59.360 --> 0:14:02.160 you've also got on there's some batteries, which makes sense 0:14:02.200 --> 0:14:06.200 because even when it's floating above the cloud line so 0:14:06.240 --> 0:14:08.280 that you're still going to get as much sun as possible, 0:14:08.520 --> 0:14:12.000 there's this thing called nighttime, right right, So so the 0:14:12.000 --> 0:14:15.600 the the box of hardware that floats or doesn't float, 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.000 it's attached below the solar panels, is going to contain 0:14:18.040 --> 0:14:22.000 some rechargeable batteries for that whole wacky nighttime thing, all right, 0:14:22.120 --> 0:14:25.120 and what does uh? What? What? What kind of software 0:14:25.200 --> 0:14:28.360 we talking about? What's the operating system? Linux based? Well 0:14:28.400 --> 0:14:30.440 that makes sense, I mean, so is Android really? Android 0:14:30.520 --> 0:14:33.240 is a variation of Linux, so that makes us to me. 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:36.680 And it's got GPS on it so it knows where 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:39.000 it is, which is important because obviously you're gonna have 0:14:39.040 --> 0:14:42.520 ground teams monitoring these balloons to make sure that they're 0:14:42.520 --> 0:14:44.920 operational and that they are where they're supposed to be. 0:14:44.960 --> 0:14:47.160 And they can also send some commands to the balloons 0:14:47.200 --> 0:14:50.560 if they if needed yep, which again could be important 0:14:50.600 --> 0:14:53.480 if you need to change the altitude UM and so 0:14:53.600 --> 0:14:57.720 they also have some sensors aboard right right, including UM 0:14:58.440 --> 0:15:02.680 air temperature monitoring also for altitude and speed, so that 0:15:02.720 --> 0:15:05.880 they can tell those operators what's going on. Then, temperature 0:15:05.960 --> 0:15:08.200 is a big deal because that's one of those things 0:15:08.200 --> 0:15:09.960 in the stratosphere that you have to deal with it. 0:15:09.960 --> 0:15:12.080 It gets pretty chilly up there. So yeah, like like 0:15:12.200 --> 0:15:15.880 negative fifty degrees celsius, which in some I don't understand 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:19.080 how temperature works at those ranges, but it's only negative 0:15:19.080 --> 0:15:22.160 fifty eight degrees fahrenheit seems incorrect, but no, no, No, 0:15:22.240 --> 0:15:24.280 it's it's when you get down to those low temperatures, 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:26.760 they kind of they converge at one point and then 0:15:26.760 --> 0:15:28.920 they start to go apart again. I think I think 0:15:28.920 --> 0:15:31.360 what that means is technically just really bloody cold. Yeah, 0:15:31.400 --> 0:15:34.120 it's really really cold. And but here's nice thing. Electronics 0:15:34.120 --> 0:15:38.080 work better when they're cold. Yes, there's that, um, but 0:15:38.080 --> 0:15:40.600 but also important for that air temperature is to figure 0:15:40.600 --> 0:15:43.600 out what you know. You know, if if you are 0:15:43.720 --> 0:15:47.000 for some reason not picking up what speed you're going 0:15:47.080 --> 0:15:49.280 or what direction you're going correctly, you can use that 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:51.920 air temperature to help guide the balloon into the correct 0:15:51.960 --> 0:15:54.520 air stream. Gotcha, all right? And then you have the 0:15:54.640 --> 0:15:59.320 radio antennas themselves, the actual antennas that end up receiving 0:15:59.360 --> 0:16:04.320 and transmitting the information to the users on the ground. Um. Yeah, 0:16:04.360 --> 0:16:07.560 that's kind of interesting. I saw a picture of the 0:16:07.560 --> 0:16:10.160 ones that were on the ground that they look a 0:16:10.160 --> 0:16:13.240 little weird. Yeah, they're they're kind of basketball shaped. And 0:16:13.280 --> 0:16:16.160 this is this is really this is a specific design 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:19.120 point that they that they created because when you when 0:16:19.120 --> 0:16:22.480 you've got this bulbous antenna, it should hypothetically help sending 0:16:22.600 --> 0:16:25.480 capture signals between the balloons even when the angles are 0:16:25.560 --> 0:16:27.240 very awkward, so you don't have to have it as 0:16:27.320 --> 0:16:31.120 directional as you would with a regular antenna. So in 0:16:31.200 --> 0:16:33.120 order to launch one of these balloons, you have to 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:36.560 have a team of at least six people. So that 0:16:36.640 --> 0:16:41.160 includes a launch commander and a coordination team at mission control. 0:16:41.800 --> 0:16:43.480 I love that they have a mission control, but yeah, 0:16:43.520 --> 0:16:45.600 it takes six people to to launch one of these. 0:16:46.080 --> 0:16:48.920 Um So, I mean it's you know, it's not something 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:51.040 that you can fully automate. Like I said, just the 0:16:51.080 --> 0:16:53.400 fact that the balloon itself is so delicate means that 0:16:53.400 --> 0:16:56.960 you have to take great care. I remember that watching 0:16:56.960 --> 0:16:59.960 that video of of the team for Felix baumb Gardners 0:17:00.480 --> 0:17:03.920 a set where they were very carefully unrolling the balloon 0:17:03.960 --> 0:17:07.840 and everyone was being extra sensitive about it because even 0:17:07.880 --> 0:17:10.600 the smallest hair could mean disaster. The same sort of 0:17:10.600 --> 0:17:13.320 thing for these balloons. Hey, guys, I know it might 0:17:13.359 --> 0:17:16.680 be a little looney of Jonathan to bust in here, 0:17:16.720 --> 0:17:26.439 but we need to take a quick break. Alright, so 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:29.960 we're back. Let's talk about some of the challenges Google 0:17:30.000 --> 0:17:33.480 faces with this program, right, um So, so, the stratosphere 0:17:33.520 --> 0:17:36.159 is not really the most friendly environment to work and 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:39.240 necessarily um. The air pressure is about one percent that 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:42.440 of sea level. UM. We talked about the temperature, talked 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.119 about the temperature, it's it's it's a little bit chilly 0:17:45.200 --> 0:17:48.159 up there. And UM. Also that the part of the 0:17:48.160 --> 0:17:50.359 stratosphere that the balloons are working in is near the 0:17:50.440 --> 0:17:53.639 upper end of the ozone layer UM, which means that 0:17:53.640 --> 0:17:55.879 the balloons are going to be subject to more radiation 0:17:56.000 --> 0:17:58.920 and temperature swings from the sun. Right, so that means 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:02.159 more ultra violet radiation. There's some other issues that they 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:05.360 could potentially run into that. You know, the atmosphere protects 0:18:05.400 --> 0:18:08.040 us from a lot of that stuff, but these balloons 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:10.440 would be much more vulnerable to it. Now, it doesn't 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:14.760 mean that the likelihood of them failing is super high. 0:18:14.800 --> 0:18:18.040 In some cases, we're talking about events that we just 0:18:18.160 --> 0:18:20.879 can't plan for because we don't understand enough to be 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:23.800 able to predict what would happen. But it does mean 0:18:23.840 --> 0:18:27.760 it's something that could potentially impact the project, right. It 0:18:27.840 --> 0:18:29.640 basically just means that they need to think about how 0:18:29.640 --> 0:18:31.920 to make the equipment a little bit sturdier than they 0:18:31.920 --> 0:18:35.200 than they normally would for something ground basis, and which 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:37.920 will impact the cost and google of course, is really 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.359 interested in making these as cheap as possible to be 0:18:40.440 --> 0:18:42.760 able to provide the service the service to as many 0:18:42.760 --> 0:18:46.000 people as possible. Right, So keeping it cheap and durable, 0:18:46.040 --> 0:18:48.240 those are that's a huge challenge, right because those two 0:18:48.240 --> 0:18:50.919 things don't normally go hand in hand. Cheap and uh 0:18:51.040 --> 0:18:54.720 it'll last forever not something we see very frequently. However, 0:18:54.800 --> 0:18:57.480 to upset some of those costs, they are collaborating with 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:01.560 Noah thought it's the National Ocean A Graphic an Atmospheric Administration, 0:19:01.880 --> 0:19:06.200 thank you. Um. They're in return for giving Noah's some 0:19:06.280 --> 0:19:08.880 data about the wind patterns that they're they're picking up 0:19:08.880 --> 0:19:11.920 from all of these balloons being up there. Uh, Noah 0:19:12.000 --> 0:19:14.400 is helping them out a little bit with funding and 0:19:14.520 --> 0:19:17.320 uh and oh interesting, So it's so it really is 0:19:17.560 --> 0:19:21.280 a great collaborative uh project. Yeah, yeah, Yeah, they're they're 0:19:21.280 --> 0:19:23.280 also getting a little bit of information about them because 0:19:23.280 --> 0:19:24.960 of course Noah has a whole lot of weather balloons 0:19:25.080 --> 0:19:27.719 and so they're they're getting some good info about how 0:19:27.720 --> 0:19:30.000 to construct these things. Now I've got I've got another 0:19:30.080 --> 0:19:32.640 question for you, Lauren. So if I'm understanding this correctly, 0:19:32.680 --> 0:19:35.359 we've got these balloons floating around the stress fere. They 0:19:35.400 --> 0:19:38.439 are obviously mobile, so the stress fere will be pushing 0:19:38.440 --> 0:19:40.639 them around the winds. Even though they're moving slowly, you 0:19:40.640 --> 0:19:43.720 will still push these balloons around. Wouldn't that mean that 0:19:43.760 --> 0:19:46.560 there would be the possibility occasionally that I might not 0:19:46.880 --> 0:19:50.120 have a balloon that's in range of me. Absolutely, and 0:19:50.359 --> 0:19:51.960 part of that is going to be covered by that 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:55.679 by that bulbous antenna design. But they're also collaborating with 0:19:55.720 --> 0:19:58.800 a bunch of ground based Internet service providers in order 0:19:58.880 --> 0:20:02.800 to help fill in the coverage and and create a 0:20:02.800 --> 0:20:06.200 more continuous network. Also, they're looking to get like four 0:20:06.280 --> 0:20:10.200 to five hundred balloons for a single latitude, so hopefully 0:20:10.200 --> 0:20:12.040 they would be able to to provide a pretty good 0:20:12.040 --> 0:20:15.800 coverage there. Um, But there's also some international laws to 0:20:15.840 --> 0:20:18.479 worry about in in these are modern times, I can 0:20:18.520 --> 0:20:22.919 imagine that some countries might not be excited about Internet 0:20:23.320 --> 0:20:27.879 based things flying through their airspace. Yeah. I think anytime 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:32.960 you are flying something over another sovereign nation's airspace and 0:20:33.040 --> 0:20:35.880 you are not part of that sovereign nation, there's already 0:20:36.600 --> 0:20:39.280 a level of trust that you are asking for that 0:20:39.280 --> 0:20:41.320 that that's a big that's a big request. And then 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:44.439 on top of it. We're talking about a communication system 0:20:44.600 --> 0:20:46.880 that really what the Internet is, and and something run 0:20:46.920 --> 0:20:49.840 by Google which may or may not share information with 0:20:50.000 --> 0:20:54.240 the n ESSAY and may or may not knowingly share 0:20:54.280 --> 0:20:56.320 information with the n s A. Because there's a lot 0:20:56.359 --> 0:20:58.920 of information ever since we did our n s A 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:01.959 at so we've had people say you need to update 0:21:02.000 --> 0:21:04.880 that because all this other information that's come out. That's 0:21:04.920 --> 0:21:07.000 a story that's just continuing to break and it does 0:21:07.119 --> 0:21:09.440 look like so it's really sad and I don't want 0:21:09.440 --> 0:21:12.800 to go there, right. Yeah, there's plus there there's this 0:21:12.840 --> 0:21:14.720