Facebook , which sooner this year abandoned programme to build its ownpassenger jet - sized , solar powered dronesto provide internet access in remote stretches of the existence , is once again pursuing plans to launch satellites to do the problem alternatively .
According to Freedom of Information Act requestsfiled by Wired , the Federal Communications Commission has met several times with representatives from Facebook and its affirm ( or suspected ) subsidiary to discuss small , low Earth field artificial satellite launches over a period of year dating to 2016 . Wired write :
The emails show that the social internet wants to establish Athena , its very own internet artificial satellite , in early 2019 . The new gimmick is contrive to “ expeditiously provide broadband access to unserved and underserved areas throughout the world , ” fit in to an app program the social electronic connection appears to have filed with the FCC under the name PointView Tech LLC .
With the filing , Facebook joins Elon Musk’sSpaceXand Softbank - backed OneWeb , two well - funded organizations work on similar projects . In fact , SpaceXlaunchedthe first two of what it hope will be yard of its Starlink satellites just this past February .
It ’s not the first time Facebook has sample to launch a orbiter . In 2016 , a SpaceX Eruca sativa carrying a Facebook satellite specify to provide connectivity throughout stretches of Africa and estimatedat $ 95 millionexploded on launch , though that orbiter would have orbit much gamy and thus provided slower connections than a fleet of humiliated - orbit 1 . After that , Facebook ’s momentumreportedly stalled . It turned its tending to the solar powered drone project , but recently scrapped plans to build their own aircraft amid a series of less - than - starring tests .
Athena is just a inquiry labor . But if it is a prototype for a fleet , that fleet would almost certainly be intended to help Facebook keep roll out Internet.org , its gratuitous computer programme to provide underserved regions of the earth with canonical internet access . Facebook announced originally this year that some 100 million people around the planet are now connected through the program , which connects users to the internet through a suite of apps called Free bedrock — which is roughly corresponding to a1990s AOL - stylewalled gardenor , as Gizmodo haswritten antecedently , “ a stripped - down , walled - off web for poor people . ”
Facebook ’s official post is that some cyberspace isbetter than none , but it is handily usually theonly social media siteavailable through Free Basics without pay extra fee ( there is n’t even an e-mail provider ) . And , of course , onboarding new internet exploiter through Facebook see that the company win an even stronger foothold in go forth market where for many hoi polloi , Facebook is for all virtual aim theirprimary degree of engagementwith the cyberspace at all . Such concerns lead to the service’sban in Indiain 2015 .
“ While we have nothing to deal about specific projects at this clip , we believe orbiter technology will be an important enabler of the next generation of broadband substructure , making it potential to bring broadband connectivity to rural regions where cyberspace connectivity is miss or non - existent , ” Facebook told Wired in a statement .
rival to Facebook ’s approach include Google ’s parent party Alphabet , whichsimilarly abandoneda drone project in favor of in high spirits - altitude balloon and partnerships with third - party planet troupe , and SpaceX , which has alreadylaunched prototypesfor its own planned web of M of low-spirited earth orbit satellites .
[ Wired ]
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