NY Times April 14, 2014
Google is reaching for the clouds, and not the virtual ones. On Monday, the company said that it had purchased Titan Aerospace, the maker of high-altitude drone satellites, which will be used to take photos of the earth and to connect people to the Internet.
“Titan Aerospace and Google share a profound optimism about the potential for technology to improve the world,” a Google spokesman said in a statement. “It’s still early days, but atmospheric satellites could help bring internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation.” The news was first reported by The Wall Street Journal. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.
While it may sound like a lofty goal, it’s one that Google shares with a competitor. Facebook, recently acquired Ascenta, based in Britain, that makes a similar type of drone. Earlier reports had said that Facebook was in talks to by Titan Aerospace.
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