Emails obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request reveal the social network has had plans to launch low Earth orbit satellites since at least 2016.Emails obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request reveal the social network has had plans to launch low Earth orbit satellites since at least 2016.Emails obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request reveal the social network has had plans to launch low Earth orbit satellites since at least 2016.Fiber optic cables are the gold standard of a good internet connection, but laying them can be expensive, and in some parts of the world, a physically daunting task. So in remote corners of the globe, people often connect to the internet instead via massive geostationary satellites. These school bus-size instruments are especially far away, producing significantly slower connections. A host of companies believe the better way to connect the estimated half of Earth’s population that’s still offline is to launch “constellations” of smaller satellites into low Earth orbit, around 100 to 1,250 miles above our planet.
According to emails obtained from the Federal Communications Commission in response to a Freedom of Information Act request filed by WIRED, and confirmation from the company itself, Facebook is officially one of them.
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