Far below, ground stations with internet capabilities about 100 km apart bounce signals up to the balloons.
The signals would hop forward, from one balloon to the next, along a backbone of up to five balloons.
Each balloon would provide internet service for an area twice the size of New York City, about 1,250 sq km , and terrain is not a challenge.
There are plenty of catches, including a requirement that anyone using Google Balloon internet would need a receiver plugged into their computer in order to receive the signal.
Google is not talking costs at this point, although they're striving to make both the balloons and receivers as inexpensive as possible, dramatically less than laying cables.
Christchurch was a symbolic launch site because some residents were cut off from online information for weeks following a 2011 earthquake that killed 185 people.
Google believes balloon access could help places suffering natural disasters get quickly back online.
