• Facebook as a company spends a lot of time thinking about giving people access to the internet who don't have it. (It's the only way it can grow its user base.) That's why Facebook's working on Aquila -- to deliver internet to rural regions.
  • But a giant 737-sized drone isn't the only far-out part about Aquila. It will beam its network connection with a laser that can transfer data at 10s of Gb per second. The laser has to hit a target the size of a dime.
  • Today, Facebook announced that it had completed a full-scale, working prototype of Aquila. Facebook's first quarter R&D budget was over $1 billion, a huge increase since last year. A lot of that money probably went towards this drone.

Share This Article