Image: Google

The internet is down in part of Chile, quite literally. One of Google’s data-spewing Loon balloons appears to have crashed in the South American country over the weekend.


The balloon seems to have landed in a farmer’s field east of Los Ángeles (not that one, no, the one in Chile). Google tells the local press that the “landing was controlled locally, and in the end it was possible to carry out a slow descent.” It had apparently finished a successful test flight. Though clearly, not that successfully. Chile’s civil aviation authority is expected to investigate the crash.

One of Google’s Loon balloons crashed into a mint field in Yakima, Washington, a couple years back, managing to cause a power outage. Clearly the complex math designed to keep the balloons aloft doesn’t always play out quite right.


[Soy Chile via The Register]