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Not content with world domination, California-based Google is ramping up its efforts to expand its business into the cosmos.

After purchasing satellite maker Skybox earlier this week for £300 million ($500 million), the tech giant is now said to be preparing to buy a stake in Sir Richard Branson's space tourism company Virgin Galactic.

The £18 million ($30 million) deal would give Google access to Galactic's LauncherOne, capable of launching satellites into space within a few years.

Google is apparently in advanced talks with Virgin Galactic to buy a 1.5 per cent stake in the company at £18 million ($30 million). This would value the firm at £1.2 billion ($2 billion). The deal would give Google access to Galactic's cargo spacecraft LauncherOne, the sibling to the passenger-carrying SpaceShipTwo (pictured)

The deal would give Google a 1.5 per cent stake in New Mexico-based Virgin Galactic, and value the company at £1.2 billion ($2 billion), reports Sky News.

This would allow them to begin launching a fleet of satellites - an apparent goal for the company needed to expand their influence around the world.

The talks are also expected to have a second outcome, in which Google will invest hundreds of millions of dollars in Virgin Galactic, with a view to building the world's first space tourism business.

LauncherOne is perhaps lesser known than the main ship of Galactic's business, SpaceShipTwo.

The latter is a passenger-carrying spaceplane that, beginning later this year or early next, will take six paying customers on brief six-minute forays into space.

To reach beyond the official 'line' of space (known the Karman line, 62 miles or 100 kilometres up) SpaceShipTwo is carried to an altitude of 50,000 feet (15,500 metres) by the WhiteKnightTwo mothership before detaching and using its rocket to reach space.

In the past year Google (headquarters in California pictured) has begun to take giant leaps towards space. It began last year with the announcement of a high-altitude balloon project called Project Loon. In the last two months the tech giant bought a drone company, acquired a satellite firm and is now investing in Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic is expected to begin commercial flights of its SpaceShipTwo vehicle later this year or early next, with flights of its cargo-carrying LauncherOne vehicle to begin at a later date. Pictured is a powered test flight of SpaceShipTwo over the Mojave Desert in California on 29 April 2013

Tickets to ride into space are now valued at £150,000 ($250,000) with celebrities including Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks and Justin Bieber apparently already stumping up the money for a ticket. 

Alongside SpaceShipTwo Branson is developing LauncherOne, an unmanned payload-carrying rocket that would be sent into space from the same WhiteKnightTwo plane.

On board it will be capable of carrying experiments paid for by various companies around the world.

The rocket, after detatching from WhiteKnightTwo, will then accelerate to speeds that will enable it to enter low-Earth orbit, where it can then release the satellites it is carrying.

And Google has clearly seen the potential of this technology to launch satellites into orbit for a relatively low cost with its latest moves.

Earlier this week it bought satellite firm Skybox as the first step in its project to improve its maps and bring the internet to developing countries.

The acquisition will initially be used to boost the quality of Google's maps images as it battles Apple.

Skybox has previously hit the headlines for capturing the first HD video footage of Earth from its tiny satellite - which many dubbed at the time as being 'like live Google maps.'

Google is buying Skybox Imaging in a deal that could serve as a launching pad for the company to send its own fleet of satellites in to space. These satellites would take aerial pictures and provide online access to remote areas of the world. This photo of Kiev, Ukraine was taken by Skybox on 18 February 2014

Google plans to use Skybox's satellite already in orbit to supplement the material it licenses from more than 1,000 sources, including other satellite companies such as DigitalGlobe and Astrium.

Eventually, though, Skybox could turn into another Google 'moonshot' - a term that chief executive Larry Page has embraced for describing ambitious projects that could take several years to materialise.

Google hopes to build more satellites that could be used to beam internet access to points around the world.

'Skybox's satellites will help keep Google Maps accurate with up-to-date imagery,' the firm said.

'Over time, we also hope that Skybox's team and technology will be able to help improve Internet access and disaster relief - areas Google has long been interested in.'

The first HD video of Earth taken from SPACE that you can BUY

Google has made around 250 acquisitions during the past decade, using many of them to expand into new markets including maps and mobile devices.

To the frustration of some investors, Google also has been spending billions of dollars exploring new frontiers of technology, including driverless cars, internet-connected headwear, robots and a startup called Calico striving to find ways to slow the aging process.

Other investors have applauded Google for having the vision and audacity to make big bets on bold ideas that analysts say could hatch lucrative products in the rapidly changing technology industry.