To mark the 40th anniversary of the Internet, DARPA announced the DARPA Network Challenge, a competition that explored the roles that the Internet and social networking play in the timely communication, wide-area team-building, and urgent mobilization required to solve broad-scope, time-critical problems.
The Challenge called for competitors to be the first to submit the locations of ten moored, eight-foot, red weather balloons at 10 fixed and readily visible locations in the continental United States.
On Dec. 5, 2009, in less than seven hours, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)’s Red Balloon Challenge Team found all 10 balloons.
