X, the moonshot factory

Congratulations to the Taara and Bellwether teams for being named two of TIME's Best Inventions for 2024! Taara, which is bringing fast, affordable connectivity to communities around the world using beams of light, won the Communications & Connectivity category. Bellwether, which is building the first prediction engine for Earth, won the Artificial Intelligence category. X’s mission is to develop breakthrough technologies to help address some of humanity’s toughest problems, and it’s an honor for two of our projects to be recognized among the groundbreaking inventions on this year’s list: https://lnkd.in/ekZTJCpd #TIMEBestInventions

It’s #NationalInternetDay, which marks the date in 1969 when the first electronic message was sent over a network. Now, 55 years later, we rely on the internet to power most aspects of our daily lives—and yet 3 billion people are still not online. Taara, X’s moonshot for connectivity, aims to address this by using beams of light to bring fast, affordable internet access to communities around the world. Taara was recently spotlighted in Bloomberg’s series “The Future with Hannah Fry.” It features Hannah visiting the Taara lab to learn how the technology works and meeting with entrepreneurs in Kenya who have been able to help their neighbors come online by reselling Taara data. As the episode depicts, it’s not only a technical challenge to bring reliable connectivity to everyone globally; there are also economic and social barriers. “This is where you see the genuine impact the internet has on people’s lives,” Hannah says. “Not just in terms of access to information and the outside world, but also the business opportunity it presents.” Watch the full episode here: https://lnkd.in/g_jb-tGP

“It’s the kind of thing that sounds like science fiction—but it’s already taking place in deployments around the world.” Adam Savage “Tested” visited the airfield where X graduate, Wing conducts its test flights to learn about the future of drone delivery. Touring the facility and deconstructing the components of both real and model drones, CEO Adam Woodworth explained how his team ensures their aircrafts meet regulations to be considered a “little airline,” how they build the structures to avoid damage, and how Wing is working towards a future where drones move out of the “what if?” phase and into our everyday lives. Check out the full episode: https://lnkd.in/gBX74a57

Congratulations to X graduate Dandelion Energy for raising $40M in Series C funding! Dandelion began as an investigation into geothermal energy at X by co-founder Kathy Hannun. Kathy’s team sought to develop technology that could harvest energy from the earth to heat and cool buildings easily and affordably. While at X, they created a fast, slender drill that was smaller, less invasive, and less wasteful than existing geothermal heating and cooling techniques. Dandelion has since grown into an independent company that distributes its novel geothermal heat pump technology to homeowners across the U.S. Learn more: https://lnkd.in/gRVF7Ap5

A foodie fiesta! We had an amazing time at our second-annual Culinary Crossroads event last month, which celebrated Black Diaspora, Hispanic, and Latin cultures through food, music, and community. Thank you to all our friends at Waymo, Verily, Wing, and Intrinsic who helped make this event happen! Thanks also to Brian Henry for providing an amazing soundtrack, and to Soco Kitchen, El Sur SF, Cruisin Creams and Liquid Happiness Bartending for the delicious bites and beverages. 

#InternationalClimateActionDay is an opportunity for people and organizations around the world to reflect on how they can take action to address our urgent need to combat climate change. X’s mission is to repeatedly produce breakthrough technologies and businesses aimed at tackling some of the world’s toughest challenges. Today, more than 50 percent of our portfolio is focused on climate. If you’re a technologist or entrepreneur who wants to work on radical solutions to help alleviate the climate crisis, take a look at our open roles: https://lnkd.in/gnvM_HQ5

“There’s about 50 harvests left for the world. We have to get more food.” This week’s episode of Google’s award-winning “Where the Internet Lives” podcast features multiple X alums working on tools to help address one of humanity’s biggest challenges: sustainable food production. Host Stephanie Wong chats with X’s Captain of Moonshots Astro Teller, who shares how Tidal, a recent X graduate, is building technology to help fish farmers transition to more sustainable practices. She also speaks to X alum Emily Ma, who developed tools at the moonshot factory that have the potential to radically reduce the amount of food waste we generate. Though the problems at hand might seem daunting, the progress being made to address them—and the power of the available technology—gives Emily reason to remain optimistic. “We’re incredibly fortunate to be living in this era,” she tells Stephanie. “It truly is astounding.” Listen to the full episode: https://lnkd.in/g-HFUxZ5 #WhereTheInternetLives #AI

This #NationalChemistryWeek, we’re spotlighting 280 Earth, a recent X graduate that created a novel way to capture carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere using recycled heat from data centers and other large industrial operations. While at X, a team of chemists, engineers, and researchers developed a first-of-its-kind sorbent material that functions at unprecedentedly low temperatures to suck CO2 from the air and produce clean water. They experimented with dozens of approaches and hundreds of different chemical combinations to fine-tune the sorbent, which can be repeatedly wrung out and reused like a sponge. 280 Earth is now an independent company with its first direct air capture plant in Oregon, capable of collecting 500 tons of CO2 from the atmosphere per year. Learn more: www.280.earth.

“Having been here, genuinely, I think this is a win-win for everybody.” Taara is featured in this week’s episode of Bloomberg’s “The Future with Hannah Fry,” which explores the powerful new technologies set to shape society and future. Hannah visited our labs to learn firsthand how the Taara team is using beams of light to send fast, affordable connectivity to hard-to-reach areas. She also traveled to Nairobi, Kenya, and met with Elias Mugo, a Taara reseller, to see how internet access is transforming his community by creating business opportunities, access to education, and more. Watch the full episode: https://lnkd.in/g_jb-tGP

“We've all been there—stuck in a crowd at a concert, a baseball game, or other large-scale events, struggling to share a video clip or connect with friends because the cell network is jammed.” Taara recently worked with T-Mobile to help with this common problem and provide hundreds of thousands of festivalgoers with fast, reliable service at the Albuquerque Balloon Festival and Coachella. Read more about how the Taara team is extending on their mission to deliver fast, affordable, and abundant connectivity to people wherever and whenever they need it: https://lnkd.in/g8Y-7Syx