The Internet now that is one thing where our whole lives are dependent on, like during old times people used to visit the libraries read books to gain the knowledge they want but these days with the invention of Google which has almost all the answers to your questions, it’s like you name it and it is written in front of you. Thus, people, these days choose to search in Google and acquire the knowledge they wish instead of going to the library physically and reading various books, although there are still a lot of people who visit the libraries and choose reading books rather than surfing through the Internet to find the answers. But when comparing the numbers I am sure you know who wins the battle. So in short Internet has a very vital role in our day-to-day lives and we have reached such a level that these days without the Internet we don’t even feel confident about the things we know as we constantly have this self-doubt and somewhere in the back of our mind we are like let us just pick up our phone/tablet/laptop and just cross-check once as there is no harm in that but, to be honest thinking in a practical way it does lower our self-confidence which isn’t good at all and will affect in the future.
Now, that’s a lot about the internet and its pros and cons in our lives and how our lives have changed ever since Google took birth in our world. Today’s main topic is something related to the Internet and I am sure you all must have understood till now. So now it is time to bring in the hot news Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, called this week on the administration of President Joe Biden to show them the green signal for the plan to transmit the internet to people in Cuba via high-altitude balloons. Yes, you read that right! Internet is being transmitted via high-altitude balloons. And I am also aware of the fact that this just blew your mind because I guess this is the first time any of us have heard about the Internet transmitted on balloons. So the major question in your mind must be can the Internet be transmitted via balloons? Yes, it can and it has been developed for years by Alphabet, which is the parent company of Google. The company worked to perfect an internet-balloon division service called Loon but was shut down in January, saying it wasn’t commercially viable.
Now the next question is how exactly does this work? So the Loon balloons were effectively cell towers the size of a tennis court. They floated 60,000 to 75,000 feet above the Earth and are made of the commonplace plastic polyethylene, the balloons used solar panels for electricity and could deliver service to smartphones in partnership with a local telecom. Each balloon could serve thousands of people but the only problem was that they had to be replaced every five months and the balloons could be difficult to control due to the harsh conditions in the stratosphere.
But experts say that it will not be easy to set up internet service for Cuba as it would need an unused band of spectrum, or radio frequencies, to transmit a connection to Cuba, and spectrum use which is typically controlled by national governments. But the Cuban government restricts independent media and censors what’s available to Cubans online, according to Human Rights Watch. So let us see whether this mission turns out to be a successful one or not.
