Facebook will use drones, lasers to 'deliver the internet to everyone'

Facebook will use drones, lasers to 'deliver the internet to everyone'

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What's that flying overhead? It could soon be a Facebook-owned Internet drone. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Thursday that the company will use "drones, satellites and


lasers" to achieve its dream of bringing Internet connectivity to everyone in the world. (_Read more_: 'Mobile shift is happening': Facebook execs) "We've been


working on ways to beam internet to people from the sky," Zuckerberg wrote in a Facebook post Thursday. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive officer and co-founder of Facebook. Getty Images


It's part of Internet.org, the Facebook-led initiative launched last year that aims to bring Internet connectivity to the two-thirds of the world's population that currently lacks


access. Zuckerberg said in his post that the project has already helped 3 million people access the Internet for the first time in the Philippines and Paraguay. But, he added,


"connecting the whole world will require inventing new technology too." (_Read more_: Here's who hates the Facebook-Oculus deal) So Facebook is launching the new Connectivity


Lab, which is working on Internet connectivity systems that involve technology like "high-altitude long-endurance planes, satellites and lasers." The idea is to harness technology


that can beam to areas that lack Internet infrastructure. The Connectivity Lab team includes experts from NASA and from Ascenta, a U.K.-based company whose founders created early versions of


what became the world's longest flying solar-powered unmanned aircraft. MORE FROM NBC NEWS: Brother of mudslide victim: 'dark day' for family Navy football player who


collapsed dies Car flying into store caught on camera Zuckerberg's announcement comes just shy of a month after Facebook was reported to be buying drone company Titan Aereospace for $60


million. Titan's solar-powered drones can reportedly stay airborne for five years. Facebook won't be the first to use floating devices for global Internet connectivity. Last


summer Google launched Project Loon, a pilot program testing Internet access via solar-powered helium balloons. Meanwhile, Facebook and Google are only two of the players in a


multibillion-dollar race to connect the globe.