For some couple of days now, it is heard everywhere that Facebook has acquired/purchased Whatapp and today It’s now being reported that FaceBook will is planning to buy solar drone company Titan Aerospace worth $60M.
Facebook has several programs in place to bring free Internet access (or at least Facebook access) to folks the globe, but this new idea might be the coolest: solar-powered drones flying high above areas with poor connectivity.
Zuckerberg and Co. are said to be in talks to acquire Titan Aerospace, makers of the Solara solar drones. They’re capable of remaining aloft for up to five years, hovering at an altitude of around 20 kilometers. Really, the Solara drones are more like low-flying satellites than the other drones.
Titan Aerospace says that Solara is well-suited to a number of tasks, from aerial imaging to weather monitoring to disaster assistance. They’re also an excellent communication platform, and that’s the reason Facebook is interested in buying Titan — for a reported $60 million.
It’s all about the quest to attract the next billion Facebook users, many of whom live in areas with spotty or no Internet access. If Solara drones really can provide a cost-effective way to get those people online, then Facebook can easily justify the acquisition.
Facebook has already picked up data compression firm Onavo to help cement their plans to become a 21-century Compuserve. Onavo’s bandwidth-saving tech would be a perfect fit onboard a Solara drone hovering high above Africa, helping to ensure the continent is blanketed with coverage and Facebook is usable even when signals are relatively weak.
The race is officially on now. Google has already sent its Project Loon balloons up for a test run, and Facebook won’t want to come in second in the race to provide free access. They’ll want Solara drones in the air as soon as the ink is dry on the contracts.
Once they’ve got the Internet access problem licked, the next obvious step is to follow us around with drones closer to home that take aerial photos of us whenever we check in somewhere. Hey, it could happen.
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