Google will buy satellite maker Skybox Imaging for $500 million in order to improve its mapping service.
The deal, which was announced Tuesday, could help the search giant expand its Internet service offerings, according to The New York Times.
Google is currently looking into using drones and balloons to bring Internet access to people in scattered populations.
"Their satellites will help keep our maps accurate with up-to-date imagery," a Google representative said. "Over time, we also hope that Skybox's team and technology will be able to help improve Internet access and disaster relief areas Google has long been interested in."
The deal comes two months after Google's acquisition of drone maker Titan Aerospace, ABC News reported. The company has purchased close to 250 companies in the past decade, and has used most of them to get involved in maps, mobile devices and other markets.
Skybox was founded in 2009 in Mountain View, Calif., just over a mile away from Google's headquarters.
"The time is right to join a company who can challenge us to think even bigger and bolder, and who can support us in accelerating our ambitious vision," Skybox said in a blog post.
The startup was created by four Stanford business school students who were focusing on using cheaper satellites. The company uses off-the-shelf material and is looking to launch more satellites in a cheaper way, The New York Times reported.
Skybox has raised almost $91 million with help from companies such as Khosla Ventures and Bessemer Venture Partners.
"No one expected this company to succeed," said David Cowan, a partner of Bessemer. "People in aerospace wrote it off as a Mickey Mouse attempt to do something that was impossible."
Skybox successfully launched its first satellite, SkySat-1, last November. Gowan said Google may have purchased the company because of Skybox's cheaper-is-better approach.
"Google bought this because Sergey and Larry have ambitious designs on space," he said, in reference to Sergey Brin and Larry Page, co-founders of Google. "If they're going to do something big in space, it's going to be through small, cheap satellites."
Skybox said it currently employs close to 100 people, ABC News reported.
Google will need regulatory approval from the Federal Communications Commission and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to have control of Skybox within the next few months.
