‘Project Loon’, sometimes seen in the news, is related to
- (a) waste management technology
- (b) wireless communication technology ✓ UPSC's answer
- (c) solar power production technology
- (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.