Google's 'Project Loon' Internet Balloons Almost Ready to Take Flight

— -- Google is edging closer to its dream of sending its fleet of Internet beaming balloons into the sky.

A new video released by Google shows how the search giant is now capable of creating a balloon in a matter of hour.

"We're getting close to the point where we can roll out thousands of balloons," Google's Project Loon leader, Mike Cassidy, said in a new video released over the weekend to show off the progress.

Automated cranes are used to launch dozens of balloons a day into the stratosphere.

The Project Loon balloons can float through the sky for more than one hundred days as they cross the globe and beam Internet down to the billions of people in the world who are not yet online.

A control center will help guide each balloon to an area to ensure Google's fleet is providing the best coverage where Internet is needed, while an operations team will be dispatched to collect the balloons when they land.

Google hasn't said when Project Loon could make its official debut. Facebook showed off its high profile and high flying Internet project last month.

Mark Zuckerberg revealed last month Facebook has completed its first test of an unmanned aircraft that could be used to bring Internet connectivity to the most remote parts of the world.

Running on solar power, Zuckerberg said it's expected the Internet drone could fly at altitudes of more than 60,000 feet for months at a time.