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It’s official: Google invests $1 billion into SpaceX

Updated Jan 20th, 2015 5:11PM EST
Google SpaceX $1 Billion Investment

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It’s a perfect partnership between two companies who love their “moonshots.” SpaceX on Tuesday announced that it’s received $1 billion in funding from new investors Google and Fidelity that will go toward “to support continued innovation in the areas of space transport, reusability, and satellite manufacturing.”

FROM EARLIER: Google to reportedly team with SpaceX to create a global satellite Internet service

Although SpaceX was extremely vague about what this investment would mean, reports from earlier this week indicated that it would be used to help build a satellite-based Internet service that would help connect billions of people to the web who today lack Internet access.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in an interview last week that his company is working on “creating a global communications system that would be larger than anything that has been talked about to date,” which seems to describe the project that Google will be investing in.

SpaceX in recent months has been testing out reusable rockets capable of landing back down on Earth after launching space shuttles into the atmosphere. While it has successfully landed these rockets on solid ground, it so far hasn’t been able to land them on more challenging surfaces such as floating ocean platforms.

Brad Reed
Brad Reed Staff Writer

Brad Reed has written about technology for over eight years at BGR.com and Network World. Prior to that, he wrote freelance stories for political publications such as AlterNet and the American Prospect. He has a Master's Degree in Business and Economics Journalism from Boston University.