Google has completed its acquisition of yet another high-tech company--Titan Aerospace, which makes drones.
Based in New Mexico, the startup builds unmanned flying vehicles that are powered by the sun, two of which the company claims could stay airborne for years without needing to land, NBC News reported.
The two long-flying models, which are called Solara 50 and Solara 60, are said to offer the same coverage as 100 cellphone towers.
Google hasn't disclosed details about the purchase, including Titan Aerospace's price tag, but NBC News notes that drones could feed high-quality images to Google Earth.
The Mountain View, Calif.-headquartered company could also be looking to bring connectivity to undeveloped areas since "atmospheric satellites could help bring Internet access to millions of people," as Google told NBC News in a written statement.
The two companies sealed the deal on Monday morning, and the 20 Titan Aerospace employees will remain in New Mexico for now, Reuters reported.
The announcement came soon after Facebook officials said they planned to use solar-powered drones and satellites to bring Internet to more parts of the world.
While Google seems to have obtained an extra edge with the Titan Aerospace purchase, Facebook is hardly out of the running when it comes to working with drones.
The ubiquitous social network was reportedly in talks with Titan Aerospace just a few weeks ago, but instead recently purchased U.K.-based aerospace company Ascenta in a $20 million deal.
"They will join our team working on connectivity aircraft," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post. Ascenta has become part of Facebook's Connectivity Lab program, which is working to bring Wi-Fi to the world.
"We're going to continue building these partnerships, but connecting the whole world will require inventing new technology too," Zuckerberg said.
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