Last night, high above Maine, FlightRadar24 and the folks that monitor it watched as two balloons in the stratosphere drifted across central and northern Maine.  Why?

These two high-altitude balloons, comparable to weather balloons, drifted from one side of Maine to the other, approximately 11 miles above the earth.

The balloons are part of a research and development project that just may bring internet access to rural areas of the country.  This "semi-secret" undertaking is called Project Loon", and is being conducted by a company called X.  Wow, secretive enough for you?

X used to be called Google X, and was founded by Google.  It's based in Mountain View, California.

The premise of Project Loon is that eventual customers would have an antenna on the roof of their home or business, which would communicate with a variety of balloons floating thru the stratosphere, communicating with each other, and with a home base of  some sort that would provide internet access.

Sound loony enough for you?  Thus the name Project Loon!  This project may eventually provide 4G-LTE internet service to places like Central and Northern Maine.

So keep an eye to the clear sky, and someday or night you may be surprised to see something very odd drifting by.

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