Apr 15, 2014 09:56 AM EDT By Russell Westerholm, UniversityHerald Reporter

Google has snatched Titan Aerospace right from under Facebook's nose and purchased the drone maker for an undisclosed amount.

An unnamed source close to the matter informed the Wall Street Journal about how Google told Titan Aerospace it would match any offer Facebook made. The social media giant ended up purchasing Ascenta, a company in the U.K. also working on unmanned flying vehicles, for $20 million.

Drones are an intriguing prospect for the future of the Internet. Google has already started working on Project Loon, which aims to provide the world with Internet service by placing weather balloons all over the Earth's atmosphere. Titan's drones, on the other hand, are capable of staying in the air for years powered only by the sun.

Facebook has a similar project, Internet.org, and is apparently trying to connect the world by flying solar-powered drones in the atmosphere. Amazon is another Internet-based company looking to utilize unmanned aircraft. CEO Jeff Bezos said the company is four or five years away from delivering certain items to its customers via unmanned helicopter drones.

"Titan Aerospace and Google share a profound optimism about the potential for technology to improve the world, " Google said Monday in a statement obtained by USA Today. "It's still early days, but atmospheric satellites could help bring Internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation."

Titan's drones can be used to monitor crops, aid in natural disaster relief efforts and data delivery. Google also said they will use the drones to develop algorithms to predict wind patterns, aiding flight plans.

"They're definitely looking for the next big innovation," Jeff Vining, an analyst at the Gartner research firm, told the San Jose Mercury News. "Civilian uses for drones are going to explode far beyond the public safety and military uses we know of today."

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