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Google is about to launch a $1 billion project to bring internet access to the most remote parts of the world where it is impossible to set up fixed broadband or cellular towers for mobile data. Over ⅔ of the worlds population has no access to internet and Google is trying to change that number by sending up 180 compact-sized satellites into space. The project builds on Googles last effort Project Loon, which is a balloon powered internet provider.
The Project Loon balloons travel around in the stratosphere and uses wind currents to move around. Unlike Loon, the satellites will travel close to the earth and will be controlled by engineers through the use of beams here on earth. Google is not the only company that is employing satellites, Facebooks CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a post “We’ve been working on ways to beam Internet to people from the sky,”. Zuckerberg has teamed up with several tech companies to develop a droid, but no detailed specs have been released since.