UPSC Prelims 2016 GS Paper I · Q35 of 100 General Science easy

'Project Loon', sometimes seen in the news, is related to

  1. (a) waste management technology
  2. (b) wireless communication technology ✓ UPSC's answer
  3. (c) solar power production technology
  4. (d) water conservation technology

Why the answer is (b)

• Project Loon was Google's (later Alphabet's) venture to beam internet to remote areas from high-altitude balloons floating in the stratosphere at about 20 km, acting as floating cell towers — a wireless communication technology, option (b).

• It was piloted in New Zealand, Sri Lanka and Kenya and shut down in 2021 as commercially unviable.

• It had nothing to do with waste (a), solar power (c) or water (d).

• Hence option (b).

Why the other options are wrong

(a) waste management technology
Loon was not about waste management.
(c) solar power production technology
Loon was not a solar project.
(d) water conservation technology
Loon was not about water.

Asked in the GS Paper I of the UPSC Civil Services Preliminary Examination 2016, held on 7 August 2016. Question and answer key: Union Public Service Commission. Explanation: UPSC Answer Check.

Reading the answer is not the same as getting it right under a clock. Practise this question with UPSC's negative marking, and anything you miss goes into an error notebook until you get it right twice.

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