Facebook Builds Audacious ‘Web-Planes’ That Will Carry Internet Everywhere

Facebook took another leap into revolutionizing internet technology when its team announced they had built a drone that aims to bring connectivity to remote parts of the world, according to BBC.

Over the years, Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg has been vocal about his desire to expand the reach of internet to unconnected parts of the world, and now it seems to be finally paying off, with Facebook’s core group of engineers announcing late on Thursday evening that they had finally finished building the drone that will bring distant territories under the spell of internet.

The Aquila, as the drone is called, has a wingspan akin to that of a Boeing 737, and yet it weighs less than a small car. Built with the capacity to stay aloft for more than three months at a go, Aquila will beam Internet service to the ground from altitudes ranging from 60,000 to 90,000 feet and can boast speeds as high as 10 gigabytes per second.

Speaking at an official presentation at Facebook’s California headquarters, Yael Maguire, the engineering director of the project, told journalists that Facebook had achieved a “significant milestone” in its attempts to connect the world, and emphasized laser communications will help the Aquila reach speeds much faster than what is currently available.

Facebook’s vice president of global engineering and infrastructure, Jay Parikh, exulted in the new achievement in a blog statement.

“Our goal is to accelerate the development of a new set of technologies that can drastically change the economics of deploying Internet infrastructure. We are exploring a number of different approaches to this challenge, including aircraft, satellites and terrestrial solutions. A full-scale version of Aquila — the high-altitude, long-endurance aircraft designed by our aerospace team in the UK — is now complete and ready for flight testing.”

https://www.facebook.com/Engineering/videos/10153414335177200/

Meanwhile, Facebook is not only expanding the dominion of information technology through the building of Aquila, but is also immersed in the development of its next product, Oculus Rift, which aims to enhance people’s sharing experiences (as if Facebook hasn’t done that already!). According to Wired, Mark Zuckerberg hopes to begin the sales of Facebook’s latest product by the beginning of 2016.

“If you go back ten years, most of how people communicated was through text. We’re going through a period where now it’s mostly visual and photos. We’re entering into a period where that’s increasingly going to be video—and we’re seeing huge growth there. But that’s not the end of the line. There’s always a richer way that people want to share and consume thoughts and ideas. And I think immersive 3D content is the obvious next thing after video.”

With the simultaneous development of Aquila and Oculus Rift in the works, Mark Zuckerberg has once again proved that Facebook is going to be the trendsetter in the world of internet technology in the years to come.

[Photo via Facebook]