免費wifi覆蓋全球 美國公司計劃造福全人類

You might think you have to pay through the nose at the moment to access the Internet.

現在想連接上網你可能得花不少錢。

But one ambitious organisation called the Media Development Investment Fund (MDIF) is planning to turn the age of online computing on its head by giving free web access to every person on Earth.

但一個名叫“媒體發展投資基金”（MDIF）的美國組織非常有野心，他們計劃爲全球所有的人提供免費網絡，讓在線計算的時代發生完全變革。

Known as Outernet, MDIF plans to launch hundreds of satellites into orbit by 2015.

MDIF公司這個名叫“外聯網” 的項目，計劃到2015年向近地軌道發射數百顆衛星。

Using something known as datacasting technology, which involves sending data over wide radio waves, the New York-based company says they'll be able to broadcast the Internet around the world.

“外聯網”項目將使用數據廣播技術，讓這些衛星向地球地面站持續釋放無線網絡信號。MDIF公司總部在紐約，他們表示將利用這些衛星向世界各地廣播網絡信號。

The Outernet team claim that only 60% of the world's population currently have access to the wealth of knowledge that can be found on the Internet.

“外聯網” 項目團隊表示，全球只有60%的人口有機會接觸到網絡提供的豐富資源和知識。

This is because, despite a wide spread of Wi-FI devices across the globe, many countries are unable or unwilling to provide people with the infrastructure needed to access the web.

這是因爲雖然全球範圍內Wi-FI 電子設備廣泛使用，但很多國家無法或不願意爲人民提供無線網連接的基礎設施。

The company's plan is to launch hundreds of low-cost miniature satellites, known as cubesats, into low Earth orbit. Using a technique known as User Datagram Protocol (UDP) multitasking, which is the sharing of data between users on a network, Outernet will beam information to users.

該公司計劃向近地軌道發射數百顆低成本的迷你衛星——立方體衛星，“外聯網”將使用用戶數據報協議多任務技術向用戶發送信息光束，實現全球網絡下用戶數據分享。