Social media giant Facebook is reportedly in talks to acquire Titan Aerospace, a maker of solar-powered drones.
According to a TechCrunch report, discussions are at an advanced stage and the cost of the acquisition is expected to reach $60 billion. The unmanned aircraft (drones) manufactured by Titan Aerospace are capable of flying, without refueling, for five consecutive years, while the flights are made at a very high altitude, almost entering orbit around the Earth.
TechCrunch reports that the acquisition is being made to serve Facebook's plans to spread the Internet to areas with no existing infrastructure. The American company plans to build up to 11,000 unmanned aircraft, specifically the Solara 60 model.
This particular model was introduced into service last year and is characterized as an "atmospheric satellite", which is capable of performing all the functions of a satellite orbiting the Earth, but at a significantly lower cost.
Furthermore, Solara 60 is clearly more flexible in terms of the missions it can undertake, compared to a typical satellite. The multiple uses of such a platform include weather monitoring, disaster relief, high-definition imagery and, of course, communications.
It is worth noting that Titan Aerospace manufactures its drones under the designation "atmosats", thus wanting to specify that the space in which they will operate will be above 60,000 feet, which is controlled by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
Facebook is a major backer of the Internet.org initiative, which aims to provide internet access to the 5 billion people who currently lack it. Internet.org is a rival to Google's "Project Loon," which has used balloons instead of planes or satellites.
Source: naftemporiki.gr
