Alphabet Drops Project Titan Which Promised Internet Access In Rural Areas

Alphabet Ink. which is a holding company of Google has shut down its internet drone project. An Alphabet spokesperson has confirmed that they have dropped project Titan.

Google acquired Titan Aerospace in 2014 to bring internet connections to remote places by using a drone. However, the company had quietly dropped off its plans about a year ago, as reported by CNET. The company has also stated that the project Loon is a much more promising way of connecting people to the internet in remote areas.

There are several reasons as to why the company might have scrapped the Titan project. As reported by Engadget, Google's solar plane crashed due to a wing failure in 2015. Additionally, there were problems in transmitting 5G data from the solar drones. Also, the balloons stays relatively stable compared to a drone and is much more reliable because of the fewer mechanical parts involved. So, the company might work on project Loon.

Since the project was scrapped around one year back, the Titan teams' employees were asked to disperse into other projects within the Alphabet as they were under pressure to turn theoretical ideas into practical.

Project Titan

Google's Project Titan could bring internet access to millions and help solve problems such as deforestation and natural disasters by the use of atmospheric satellites. Titan, a company owned by Alphabet, said that its drones can collect high resolution images of the earth in real time and could support voice and data services brining internet access to remote locations.

Project Loon

The Project Loon is a network of balloons travelling on the edge of the space, developed by X with the mission of providing internet access to rural and remote areas. The project uses balloons at high altitude of 18 kilometers to create a wireless network delivering up to 4G-LTE speeds. The balloons use directional antennas to transmit signals to the ground stations.