Google's Loon balloons now fly for three months

Google is succeeding in keeping high-altitude balloons aloft in the stratosphere for more than three months at a time — a key goal in its ambitious Project Loon program to deliver Internet from the sky.

Project Loon envisages bringing Internet to underserved regions of the world by beaming 4G LTE cellular data signals from balloons drifting at around 60,000 feet.

For Project Loon to work at scale, Google will need to launch thousands of balloons to maintain continuous coverage. And for logistical and economic reasons, those balloons will need to stay in the sky for as long as possible.

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