Facebook has made significant progress in a project to build solar-powered drones that can deliver Internet connectivity using lasers, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced yesterday.
"I'm excited to announce we’ve completed construction of our first full scale aircraft, Aquila, as part of our Internet.org effort," Zuckerberg wrote. "Aquila is a solar powered unmanned plane that beams down Internet connectivity from the sky. It has the wingspan of a Boeing 737, but weighs less than a car and can stay in the air for months at a time. We've also made a breakthrough in laser communications technology. We've successfully tested a new laser that can transmit data at 10 gigabits per second. That's ten times faster than any previous system, and it can accurately connect with a point the size of a dime from more than 10 miles away."Obviously, that 10Gbps would be shared among multiple users, but it could connect a lot of people to the Internet.
Facebook's Internet.org project aims to bring Internet service to parts of the world where people have little or no access. Today, Facebook is working with mobile operators to provide free access to parts of the Web on low-end phones. But that won't be enough, Zuckerberg wrote.
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