Google, together with the venture fund Fidelity has invested about $ 1 billion in aerospace company SpaceX, known for its rockets. The search giant has become interested in Elon Musk's plans for delivering cheap Internet using space satellites. About this newspaper The Wall Street Journal.
Earlier, Elon Musk said he wanted to build the world's largest communications system. According to his estimates, it is necessary to spend at least 5 years and 10 billion dollars of investments on the project.
Google has similar plans. The company has already announced its desire to distribute the Internet around the world, delivering it to the most remote parts of the planet. This would help the company to increase the number of users of its services.
Internet access seriously improves the quality of life of people. However, two thirds of the inhabitants of the earth do not have such access. That is why we pay so much attention to new technologies, starting with Project Loon and ending with the Titan Aerospace project. This will provide the Internet with hundreds of millions of people in the coming years, a Google spokesman said last year.
So, Google is already testing balloons, unmanned aerial vehicles and satellites to understand how this will work.
In 2013, the company launched the Project Loon project, which provides for the creation of a global Internet coverage using helium-filled balloons. Later, Google bought Titan Aerospace, a UAV-specializing satellite and Skybox Imaging satellite imager. Both purchases, according to Google, will provide it with the necessary technology.
Titan Aerospace drones run on solar energy and can be in the air for up to 5 years without landing. The company calls them "atmospheric satellites", the use of which is cheaper than satellites in orbit.
Skybox satellites, in turn, are the size of the phone book, and consume less energy than a 100-watt incandescent lamp.
But even if you combine the technology of Google with the achievements of SpaceX, companies will have to solve a lot of serious issues to make it work, as Musk had planned.
Google and Fidelity Venture Fund together received 10 percent of SpaceX shares. The capitalization of the company Mask was estimated at $ 10 billion.
Richard Branson, the head of Virgin Galactic, also plans to deliver the Internet via satellite.
The article is based on materials .
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