Google announced Thursday that it is working with France's space agency, the Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), to bring its Project Loon closer to launch.
The project, created under the Google X experimental lab, is aimed at using balloons to provide internet access to places around the world that don't have it, according to CNET. The balloons are powered by solar panels and designed to fly at higher altitudes than those reached by commercial airlines, as well as above weather.
While not much was revealed about the new partnership, CNES said it will provide Google with its knowledge of balloon technology, and the search giant will be tasked with long-duration balloon campaigns for CNES' study on the stratosphere and ozone.
CNES, which currently has 60 staffs working on balloons, says France has been involved in balloon technology since the 1960s, The Register reported.
The country has also worked on efforts similar to Loon, such as the Concordiasi project, which involved launching balloons for long flights in Antarctica between 2008 and 2011.
The Project Loon balloons have so far been able to fly at over 3 million kilometers, and they are designed to enable connection speeds fast enough to allow people to stream video, CNET reported.
The announced partnership comes as Google is having some rough times in Europe: the European Parliament is promoting to break up the company, and Google News in Spain is being shut down.
Working with CNES could improve Google's relationship with European politicians and citizens while providing a service that benefits people around the world.
