Facebook Confirms It's Working on a New Internet Satellite | WIRED

Excerpt:

"Facebook’s plan to launch a new internet satellite may sound ambitious, but it’s not out of character. The company has long expressed an interest in connecting the billions of people around the world who lack access to an affordable, quality internet connection, though not always without controversy.

In 2013, the social network announced Internet.org, a grand, multipart initiative designed to connect those without internet access. Its best-known—and most contested—program, Free Basics, offers people in over 60 countries free access to some websites, including Facebook. Critics complained that Free Basics created a two-tiered internet, further exacerbating the digital divide between developed and developing nations. India eventually outlawed the program in 2016.

Another part of Internet.org is the Connectivity Lab, a research group for developing new technology to facilitate internet access, including satellites. The lab launched a satellite designed to provide internet in Africa on a SpaceX rocket in 2016, but the instrument was destroyed when the rocket blew up. That satellite, however, was set to be launched into geosynchronous transfer orbit—much higher than the lower-orbit Athena satellite Facebook is now developing."

Facebook Confirms It's Working on a New Internet Satellite | WIRED