According to online reports, Google is ending its Titan program which aimed beaming high-speed internet to large areas via high-altitude drones. Google’s Titian program is similar to Facebook’s Aquila drone.
Google acquired the Titan program in 2014, but have run into a number of issues, including the crash of the program’s Solara 50 drone in May of 2015.
The closing of Google’s Titan program is definitely a strike against the effort to use high-altitude drones to provide internet to undeveloped or remote areas.
Both Google and Facebook have had issues with the large wingspan of their massive drones—in particular Google’s Solara 50 had a wing failure when it ran into a thermal updraft. The rapid accelerations and turbulence experienced because of the thermal updraft put too much stress on the over-sized wings of the drone.
Hopefully Facebook doesn’t put a halt to its Aquila drone.
