Google Project Loon Spotted Over Australia

What better place to test your super-secret, experimental balloon-based internet project than in the largest island on Earth where you can float for miles above the landscape and have nobody see you? At least, that’s what Google thought: the web giant’s Project Loon aircraft have been spotted over New South Wales and Queensland this evening.

The find was nabbed by Buzz Moody who appears to have an enthusiasm for watching planes as they fly over our great nation.

One aircraft, however, looks different to all the others, floating around Northern NSW and into Queensland with no discernible callsign.

That’s because it’s a Google balloon.

At the time of publication, it’s floating at an altitude of over 700 feet (although other reports suggest it’s at 65,000) and doing circles over the East Coast. The transponder started just west of Goondiwindi in regional New South Wales, and has been floating ever since.

It’s understood that this isn’t a new balloon launched by Google Australia. Instead, we understand that it’s the same balloon launched by Google from New Zealand back in March that has been floating around the globe ever since. Google has confirmed it is a balloon from Project Loon.

Previously, a Loon balloon circled the Earth in 22 days, which is way faster than Mountain View boffins thought it could be done.

Project Loon is Google’s plan to give the world Wi-Fi by sending high-altitude balloons into the stratosphere loaded up with an antenna. It’s insanely futuristic, but from the looks of things tonight, the future is floating over our heads right now.

[Flight Radar via Buzz Moody]