Sometimes, in this wonderful world we all share, an idea takes off that sounds too stupid to work. Take, for example, Starlink. The idea that you would put 5,000 super-cheap satellites in very low earth orbit sounds like a joke. But, it works. It works very well in fact, and if you want Starlink service you should call us at 888-233-7563. But that’s not really the topic of the story.
When Elon Musk’s SpaceX was able to prove that Starlink was a hit, other billionaires took notice. They started floating ideas of their own. In one case, “floating” was a literal idea. It’s been proposed several times that you could provide internet service to an area by using multiple small balloons or one big blimp. This idea sounds like a hybrid of Looney Tunes and Blade Runner, which means it’s so silly that it could actually work.
Why this idea could actually work
The reason that Starlink works is that it uses the same communication model as the cell phone system. Cell phone technology has been around for 50 years, and it works. It works so well that we don’t even think about it. So, adapting that same tech to sky-based internet makes sense.
The very basic idea of cellular telephony goes back thousands of years. It’s this: if you can see three points in space, you know where you are. This is called triangulation and it’s the basis for everything from maps to GPS to finding your kids at the beach. Your cell phone is usually in range of three cell towers, which gives the cell company an idea of where you are and where you’re going.
The other key part of the cell phone system is that towers are so close together that you can switch from tower to tower seamlessly, before reception gets bad. Triangulation lets the system have some idea where you’re going, but even without that, your phone can tell when the signal from one tower is getting stronger while the other gets weaker, and switches the signal to the stronger tower.
Starlink uses the same idea. You never know which satellite you’re communicating with. In most cases, you’re not moving but the satellites are whizzing by overhead. You’ll only get a few minutes’ reception out of one before switching to another. But, it doesn’t matter because it’s seamless.
How this applies to balloons and blimps
You can do the exact same thing with balloons and blimps instead of satellites. If you have enough balloons in the air, it doesn’t matter if they’re moving in unpredictable ways. People on the ground will be able to see one or more at any given time. The balloons can be fitted with batteries and hardware and just sit up in the sky providing internet service. They can connect to a base station and to regular people’s devices and the thing, theoretically, just works. At least until the balloon falls to earth, anyway.
It’s even simpler with a blimp. The large surface area of a blimp can act as a framework for a bunch of hardware similar to cell tower. Cellular signals can travel 1-2 miles easily as long as there are no obstructions. They’ve been known to travel up to 5 miles if there’s nothing but open air between the tower and the phone.
So, a blimp making lazy circles in the air around a point in space, at about 5,000 feet, could provide a massive amount of cell phone and internet capacity until it runs out of fuel. With several blimps, you could have the whole thing going 24 hours a day.
I can’t imagine this would be a permanent solution…
…but for areas hit by natural disasters it sounds perfect. If a hurricane sweeps through and knocks out power, cell service will continue for about 8 hours thanks to battery backups. But after that, those folks are totally in the dark. Putting up balloons or flying blimps would give crews time to restore cell service to those areas that need it desperately. Like it or not, cell service is the way we communicate, and it’s as important as food or water in a lot of people’s minds. This is a way that folks with cell phones could get access to the outside world. Of course they’d need a solar charger and emergency radio like this one. Yes, it’s pricey but when you need it, it will be there.
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