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Loon’s final flight

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Re: Loon’s final flight

#131

Post by nickff »

Uke wrote: post #115
nickff wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am a staunch supporter of the space program, but... the Apollo program also got cut before it had achieved its objectives, and probably never would have made it to the moon at all if Kennedy had lived.

Also, the external pressures to be the first on the moon instead of the USSR we're quite high.

Kennedy was looking to either cancel Apollo (due to skyrocketing costs), or try to get USSR onboard for it (which probably would have caused it to stall). In addition to that, Apollo was extremely unpopular for the entirety of its existence, save for a brief period in the middle of 1969.

The space program's history is very different from what most people imagine it to have been.

Re: Loon’s final flight

#132

Post by ridaj »

dartharva wrote: post #88

The successor, Project Taara, seems quite impressive (and more sustainable): https://x.company/projects/taara/

Optical beam link technology is old tech. It's also badly affected by weather and pollution (rain, clouds, fog) which is why people who do point-to-point communications for a living tend to prefer microwave.

Re: Loon’s final flight

#133

Post by omarforgotpwd »

hckrnrd wrote: post #90
omarforgotpwd wrote: post #35

Starlink made this obsolete before it launched

While SpaceX is in the news, there’s also the Amazon LEO initiative: Project Kuiper. They’ve received FCC approval and have access to Blue Origin rockets to launch.

Sure, there's lots of satellite internet services. most of them have failed to become financially viable

Re: Loon’s final flight

#134

Post by gonehome »

wcoenen wrote: post #117
gonehome wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The general idea of a global telecom is a good one. The strategic failure was not recognizing that starlink’s approach to the problem made way more sense. They didn’t see that as the existential threat it was. Instead they downsized their implementation to running the network over poor countries and hand waved a bit about being able to provide connectivity in congested areas. Loon has no viable future in a world with…

I wouldn't call this a strategic failure. Google is a big SpaceX investor.

Well a nine year investment in a company to end in failure isn’t what I’d call a strategic success.

Re: Loon’s final flight

#136

Post by petra »

fermienrico wrote: post #14

I am currently reading "The Idea Factory" [1], the story of Bell Labs and its innovation streak for many decades. There were so many amazing things Bell Labs worked on - all directly related to solving business problems. At one point, they were given a task of developing the most perfect lubrication oil dispenser with a requirement that it dispenses exactly 15 drops of oil per squeeze of the trigger. They worked on T…

It seems that something like Loon is much more risky and large scale than those Bell Labs projects - which seem like regular r&d risks (although many of them).

And if it have worked reliably and affordably, they probably could have found some way to monetize it.

Re: Loon’s final flight

#137

Post by teacpde »

rorykoehler wrote: post #86
refulgentis wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

_The_ moonshot, Waymo. People are sleeping on that you can hop in a perfectly safe robotaxi today, the ride along videos are stunning.

I don’t understand people saying full self driving is decades away. We have it always albeit in a very restricted geo fence.

The full self driving product that people expect isn’t a beta product that’s only available in a special region. To be accessible as running water, decades away is probably accurate estimation.

Re: Loon’s final flight

#138

Post by dr_dshiv »

I really respect X and Astro Teller. We need this kind of optimism and radical exploration for social benefit.

Did you know that his grandfather was Edward Teller, inventor of the hydrogen bomb? In one of Edward's final contributions [1], he mathematically modeled the cost and effect of pumping sulfur-based compounds into the upper atmosphere to reduce runaway feedback loops of global warming. On paper, it works. Solving global climate change is a real moonshot -- but too bad it is so taboo, because it could dramatically benefit all life on earth, if done right. Looks like balloons could be helpful for the implementation, too [2]

[1] https://web.archive.org/web/20160127185550/https://e-reports...

[2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_geoengineering

Re: Loon’s final flight

#139

Post by threatofrain »

sixti60 wrote: post #129

Sorry to be this guy, but I am quite happy this will not happen. The sky - our sky - is not a playground for tech companies. Imposing a mesh-grid of thousands of balloons in the sky is an incredible intrusion for people around the world who have not asked for anything. It's the same for mega constellations of satellites (Starlink). Would you be willing to have a company come and put unsolicited electronic equipment i…

Our skies and space shall be the “playground” of military and police though, until the day of international peace.

Re: Loon’s final flight

#140

Post by remus »

georgewfraser wrote: post #112

This kinda tells you everything about the culture of Google: > Sadly, despite the team’s groundbreaking technical achievements over the last 9 years — ... — the road to commercial viability has proven much longer and riskier than hoped. Focus is on the technical achievements, never mind if anyone ever used it.

Surely that's kind of the point of X and moonshot projects? If they weren't taking on projects that required large scale, risky technical innovation then they'd just be...a normal company?
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