Pictures: Google launch internet balloons

INTERNET giant Google have released around 30 balloons into the atmosphere above New Zealand in a bid to find new ways to deliver high-speed broadband to remote areas.

A Google balloon sails through the air in Tekapo, New Zealand. Picture: AP

The experiment, known as Project Loon, is being made available to 50 testers across the country. The balloons and attached modems will drift around the globe, and can theoretically provide speeds on a par with 3G mobile internet to 780 square miles of terrain of any kind.

Google’s experiments have become more and more complex in recent years. The company recently released its Google Glass eyewear which allows users to browse the web on their glasses, while development of a driverless car is still ongoing.

Project Loon founder Richard DeVaul said: “It’s a very fundamentally democratic thing that what links everyone together is the sky and the winds.”

Google say the next phase of the launch is to fly 300 of the balloons south from New Zealand through Australia, Chile, Uruguay, Paraguay and Argentina.