{"id":141,"date":"2014-06-10T07:19:40","date_gmt":"2014-06-10T07:19:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/?page_id=141"},"modified":"2016-05-05T09:22:23","modified_gmt":"2016-05-05T09:22:23","slug":"facebook-looking-into-buying-drone-maker-titan-aerospace","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/archive\/facebook-looking-into-buying-drone-maker-titan-aerospace\/","title":{"rendered":"Facebook Looking Into Buying Drone Maker Titan Aerospace"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Facebook, one of the primary backers of the <a href=\"http:\/\/internet.org\/\">Internet.org<\/a> initiative, which aims to bring affordable Internet access to the 5 billion people in the world who still lack connectivity, is in talks with a company that could help further that agenda. TechCrunch is hearing that Facebook is buying\u00a0Titan Aerospace, makers of near-orbital, solar-powered drones which can fly for five years without needing to land. According to a source with access to information about the deal, the price for this acquisition is $60 million.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-nsm-1-792\" src=\"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/New-Picture-1-300x168.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"168\" \/><\/p>\n<p>From our understanding, Facebook is interested in using these high-flying drones to blanket parts of the world without Internet access, beginning with Africa. The company would start by building 11,000 of these unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), specifically the \u201cSolara 60\u2033 model.<\/p>\n<p>You can see an example of these UAVs, first introduced last year, here on YouTube.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/XmN13LnBk3c?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>The Solara 50 and 60 models can be launched at night using power from internal battery packs, then when the sun rises, they can store enough energy to ascend to 20KM above sea level where they can remain for five years without needing to land or refuel.<\/p>\n<p>Titan Aerospace is a privately held venture with R&amp;D facilities in New Mexico. Titan is currently\u00a0led by CEO Vern Raburn, previously founder and CEO of Eclipse Aviation. The company was founded in 2012 by Max Yaney (CTO), in order to produce what it refers to as \u201catmosats,\u201d new types of UAVs that do the work of near-Earth satellites at a fraction of the cost.<\/p>\n<p>The designation of \u201csatellites\u201d is important here, as the idea has been to position these aircraft above the airspace that the FAA regulates in the U.S. Class A airspace ends at 60,000 feet stateside, and above that the U.S. doesn\u2019t regulate, Fortune had pointed out last summer. That means the only issue in launching these in the U.S. would be the initial climb. In other parts of the world, the laws will, of course, vary. But in the developing markets <a href=\"http:\/\/internet.org\/\">Internet.org<\/a> is focused on, it\u2019s likely they\u2019re not as far along in regulating such new technology.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2014\/03\/03\/facebook-in-talks-to-acquire-drone-maker-titan-aerospace\/\">http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2014\/03\/03\/facebook-in-talks-to-acquire-drone-maker-titan-aerospace\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Facebook, one of the primary backers of the Internet.org initiative, which aims to bring affordable Internet access to the 5 billion people in the world who still lack connectivity, is in talks with a company that could help further that &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/archive\/facebook-looking-into-buying-drone-maker-titan-aerospace\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"parent":23,"menu_order":85,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/141"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=141"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":621,"href":"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/141\/revisions\/621"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/23"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/zoldenergiablog.hu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}