LASER INTERNET NEXT ON FACEBOOK’S LIST
If you think the internet is ubiquitous now, wait till it gets beamed down on the wings of laser down from Earth’s orbit. Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg are embarking on a mission to launch drones into orbit so that they can shoot down internet to our devices wirelessly through laser.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg doesn’t strike one as a man with small ambitions. But this one may be too big even by his standards. He has said recently that he envisions a future in which we can have drones floating about in the sky that will shoot down internet to our devices by means of laser technology.
This new concept is being tested in Facebook’s labs now in a bid to realise Zuckerberg’s dream of expanding internet connectivity all around the world. In this future, every person in the world will be connected to the internet, and all of humanity will be this one giant hive mind.
Facebook has confirmed that they have completed their first test flight of their drone, which reportedly has a larger wingspan than a Boeing 737 while weighing less than a car. No photos or videos were released of this drone, but the future is not as far away as you may think. If you’re a young person today, chances are that you will see drones in action before you head into middle age.
Lasers as a form of communication are relatively new. NASA reported using a laser to beam data to the moon at 622 megabits per second in 2013. Google’s Project Loon is also looking at using high altitude balloons that will emit internet signals. Amazon’s foray into developing drones that deliver packages is well known. Not to be outdone, billionaires like Elon Musk and Richard Branson are taking steps to sending their own internet satellites that will orbit the Earth and act as giant routers.
While there is no timeline yet for any of these projects to see the light of day, with the rapid advancement of technology it is likely that we will see them sooner rather than later. Zuckerberg claims that once these drones are put into action, they will be able to serve 10% of the world’s population that is now without internet connectivity and infrastructure.
They say all big changes begin as big dreams. We hope that all these mega entrepreneurs keep dreaming big, and chase their dreams to make them real.
