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This May, sleuths at IEEE Spectrum revealed something exciting -- Facebook appeared to be secrely working on an experimental satellite that could beam internet down to Earth using millimeter wave radio signals.
Now, Facebook has confirmed to Wired and CNET that the satellite, dubbed Athena, is indeed a Facebook project -- and that Facebook is a believer in satellite internet technology.
"While we have nothing to share about specific projects at this time, we believe satellite technology will be an important enabler of the next generation of broadband infrastructure, making it possible to bring broadband connectivity to rural regions where internet connectivity is lacking or non-existent," a Facebook spokesperson told CNET and Wired.
But Wired does have more to share about this specific project. Using a Freedom of Information Act request, Wired says it obtained emails from the FCC that reportedly show Facebook plans to launch the Athena satellite in early 2019. In space launch terms, that's coming up pretty dang fast.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday July 23 2018, @11:38AM (1 child)
But they intend to use this to provide internet, as well, so become a full MITM packet inspection service, as well as nice pictures of your neighbourhood
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 23 2018, @12:48PM
Given that providing continuous coverage while keeping radio round trip latency at reasonable levels requires a ring of - likely small - sats in a low orbit, it seems unlikely they'd be able to also stuff bulky and heavy high-res, high magnification imaging equipment into one...
I'm too lazy to look up specs now, but conventional spy sats a la Keyhole are pretty bulky and heavy - and these don't also house high bandwidth, high gain radio/telco equipment.