Filling the sky with a flock of internet balloons sounds like an interesting if also sort of insane idea on paper, but in real life it’s not quite so fancy-free. And Google’s dealing with that first hand now that one of its internet balloons has crashed and caused a power outage.
Yup, one of Google’s test Loon balloons not only stopped providing internet but also took power away from people when it crashed in a mint field in Yakima, Washington. Google warned the FAA a day before the balloon actually hit, but there wasn’t much to be done except track it.
The crash only took out power to a few local houses, but it makes you think twice about the future of a sky full of things. You know, where there’s a lattice of internet balloons just above the layer of passenger jets just above the layer of surveillance drones just above the layer of autonomous delivery quadcopters.
Heads up everyone, the sky is falling. [Seattle Times via Hacker News]
