Google Reports Progress in Bringing Internet Service to Rural Areas

The owner of technology company Google has reported progress in its plan to offer Internet service to rural areas around the world.
谷歌科技公司的所有者报告了该公司向世界各地农村地区提供互联网计划的进展。

Google's parent company, Alphabet, calls the plan "Project Loon." Its goal is to increase access to the billions of people currently without internet connectivity.
谷歌公司的母公司Alphabet称之为谷歌气球计划（Project Loon），其目标是提高目前没有互联网连接的数十亿人的互联网接入。

Alphabet has no plans to use traditional wiring, which can be costly. Instead the idea is to float huge balloons about 20 kilometers above the surface of the Earth.
Alphabet公司没有计划使用可能会很昂贵的传统线缆，而是在地球上空20公里左右漂浮巨大的气球。

The balloons would act like telecommunications satellites, providing internet service to the rural areas. The huge objects would ride air currents to either stay in place or move to another position high in the skies.
这些气球就像通信卫星一样，为农村地区提供互联网服务。这种巨大的气球将会随着气流停留在原地或是漂浮到另一个高空位置。

At first, the idea was to have a large number of balloons circling the planet. One balloon would move away from an area while another arrived to guarantee service in the affected areas.
最初的想法是利用大量气球在地球环绕。某个气球可能会从某个地区飘走，而另一个气球飘过来以保证受影响地区的互联网服务。

But Alphabet announced it has found a way to make balloons float over one area for an extended period.
但是Alphabet公司声称找到了一种办法，可以让气球在某个区域漂浮很长一段时间。

In a statement released online, the company said its software "can now send small teams of balloons to form a cluster over a specific region where people need internet access. This is a shift from our original model...in which we planned to create rings of balloons sailing around the globe, and balloons would take turns moving through a region to provide service."
该公司在网上发布的一份声明中表示，其软件“可以升空少数气球，在人们需要互联网接入的某个特定区域形成一个集群。这是从我们原有模式的一种转变，我们原来计划用气球形成一个环绕地球漂流的气球圆环，这些气球将会轮流飘过某个地区提供互联网服务。”

The company said the discovery was made during tests of balloons launched from the island of Puerto Rico to float in Peruvian airspace. The company said some of the balloons stayed in the same area for as long as three months.
该公司表示，从波多黎各岛升空气球漂流到秘鲁领空进行测试时有了这一发现。该公司表示，一些气球在同一地区停留了长达三个月时间。

The company said the discovery should speed up the project and reduce costs: "We'll reduce the number of balloons we need and get greater value out of each one."
该公司称这一发现将会加快该项目的进度并降低成本：“我们将会减少所需的气球数量，并从每个气球中获得更大价值。”

But Project Loon workers must still find ways to increase the life of the balloons. A British Broadcasting Corporation report says the longest service for a single balloon was 190 days.
但是谷歌气球计划的员工们仍然必须找到提高气球寿命的办法。英国广播公司报道称，单个气球的最长寿命为190天。

Google has also explored the idea of providing internet service to rural areas using solar-powered drone aircraft. But it cancelled that project because of technological barriers and high costs.
谷歌公司还探索了使用太阳能无人机为农村地区提供互联网服务的想法。但是由于技术壁垒和高成本，该公司已经取消了该项目。