Facebook Joins The Drone Game

It seems Mark Zuckerberg is heading further and further away from social media. After entering the realm of virtual reality with the acquisition of Oculus VR for $2 billion, Zucks is now investing money into drones, joining the likes of Amazon and Google.

As a part of Facebook’s Internet.org initiative, Zuckerberg plans to begin “beaming internet from the sky” to every potential Facebook user on earth, which will be accomplished with a fleet of drones, satellites, and lasers.

In his usual fashion, Zucks announced the program in a post on Facebook, touting Internet.org’s progress towards worldwide connectivity, including 3 million new users from Paraguay and the Philippines.

He noted that to take the mission further Internet.org will require new technology, which will be provided by Faceboook’s new ‘Connectivity Lab,” featuring engineers from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab and Ames Research Center. Facebook had acquired the team from U.K. startup Ascenta, whose members worked on the world-record holding longest flying solar unmanned drone, which stayed airborne for two weeks back in 2010.

Earlier this month, Facebook had been looking to buy Titan Aerospace for $60 million. Theoretically, Titan’s Solara aircraft can stay aloft for 5 years between recharges. The company stressed that they’re not “drones,” they’re ‘low atmospheric satellites, which puts them at a high enough altitude to ignore FAA regulations, and launch from the U.S.

The Titan/Facebook deal was ‘confirmed,’ but has not yet been made official.