For a company whose mission is to “organize the world’s information” the sky is important. I am not talking about Google Maps. Google Sky and Google Earth, I am talking about the high-altitude bird’s-eye view of our blue planet and it's consumers.
Google is investing in low-cost communications and high--resolution imagery projects such as: Titan Aerospace, making high-altitude solar-powered drones, Project Loon, the internet via high-altitude balloons and lately Skybox Imaging, that builds small satellites that can make high-resolution photos and videos. And probably will Google buy a stake in space project Virgin Galactic as well.
The Wall Street Journal recently reported the firm plans to spend $1 to $3 billion to launch a fleet of 180 small internet satellites.
Once Google got real-time coverage of the entire globe from space, you start getting data that was previously only available to the NSA. Perhaps, we will reach a point where Google can do things that could change the future, and on a daily basis...
Google is committed to the future and in predicting it. Another Google investment is in Recorded Future, a company that seeks to interpret the information on the Web for clues about what's to come.
It doesn't mean that Google competes with the NSA, even if the Skybox sounds a bit like Skynet. Google is investing in how to refine its targeted advertising software, but what a precision they will have!
