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Facebook is already used by over a billion people on Earth , more than any other social network on the planet.

But the company has ambitious plans to expand the availability of the internet through a series of autonomous drones circling high up in the sky.

The thinking behind it is that the drones can beam a wi-fi signal to areas of the globe that (for geographical or economic reasons) aren't served by a cell tower.

It means that more people around the world will be able to get online and communicate with each other. Preferably through Facebook, although the company says that's not the only goal.

Although Facebook has yet to actually test fly the drone (which has been dubbed 'Aquilla') it's finished building the prototype and has already developed the technology to broadcast the signal.

In fact, the plan is to test fly the prototype - Facebook wouldn't tell us where - before the end of the year.

"This is basically a big flying wing," explained Jay Parikh, the vice president of engineering at Facebook.

(Image: Reuters)

It will be solar-powered (to save on the cost of fuel) and able to stay in the air for up to three months without needing maintenence.

To put that in perspective, the current record for continuous unassisted flight time is two weeks.

"The plane needs to have high lift and low drag. There's no artificial power so it needs to be as low-mass as possible," Parikh told Mirror Online.

"It's made of carbon fibre, is 142 feet wide and weighs less than a third of a Toyota Prius," he said. On board are four electric motors for the communications and a fixed-pitch propeller.

It was also built here in the UK - down in Somerset by an engineering team Facebook acquired about a year and a half ago.

(Image: Facebook)

"This is a monumental achievement. It was designed and built in 14 months," said Parikh.

Facebook wants to make these Aquilla drones as cheaply as possible - because in the future there could be hundreds of them circling the skies broadcasting their signals.

You won't see them though. Facebook is planning to fly them at between 60,000 and 90,000 feet - way above commercial airliners and unstable weather conditions.

(Image: Facebook)

Laser focused

The Aquilla drones will use lasers to deliver the wi-fi signal as well as communicate with each other.

"We want to be able to deliver tens of gigabits-per-second over these laser links," Parikh told Mirror Online.

"NASA, I think, is putting a system in to test that’s going to be around a gigabit or a gigabit-and-a-half per second this year."

(Image: Facebook)

The way Parikh explains it, communicating drone-to-drone with lasers is the technical equivalent of trying to hit a US dime (a touch smaller than a 5p coin) from 11 miles away whilst it's moving.

Facebook already has this laser technology working in its labs. Now it's going to transfer it to the drones and try and get it performing out in the big, bad world.

Safety concerns

Parikh is quick to address any safety concerns about drones falling out of the sky with the assertion that Facebook is following all the rules.

"There’s a lot of work that needs to go in to certifying this airplane to fly over people’s heads. We are working closely with all the regulatory bodies to do all the testing," he said.

"This is absolutely a critical part of all of the flight testing and analysis."

(Image: Facebook)

Each drone will be able to cover a radius of about 50 miles.

"We will do tens of thousands of hours of testing, induce failure, manage stresses, temperatures over the next months and years,” Parikh said.

The future

While Facebook wouldn't give a definitive time for when the drones will be aloft, it maintains that it's for the benefit of humanity - not just the company itself.

"Facebook’s intention here is not to be the operator," said Parikh.

"What we want to be able to do is be the technology provider or the creators of this technology, and find a way for governments and the operators to benefit from this and bring it to market.”

So, potentially, it's a cheap way for less economically developed countries to structure an internet service without laying fibre optics.

And of course, it doesn't help that more and more people will be logging on to Facebook to post their latest selfie.

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