Aquila aims to extend internet connectivity to every corner of the planet.
AB Wire
Facebook on Thursday said that the company had successfully conducted a first full scale test flight of its solar-powered plane, Aquila from Yuma, Arizona.
The main aim of Aquila is to extend internet connectivity to every corner of the planet and the company ultimately hopes to have fleet of Aquilas that can fly for at least three months at a time of 60,000 feet (18,290 metres) and communicate with each other to deliver internet access.
Facebook first revealed its plan to provide internet to remote parts of the world through unmanned drone airships two years ago. According to Facebook, the original mission was to fly Aquila for 30 minutes, but things went quite well and therefore it was decided to keep the plane up for 96 minutes.
“We’re thrilled about what happened with our first flight, There are still a lot of technical challenges that need to be addressed for us to achieve the whole mission,†Yael Maguire, Facebook’s engineering director and head of its connectivity Lab, said in an interview.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared details about the mission in a post on his Facebook page.
“On June 28th, we completed the first successful flight of Aquila- the solar-powered plane that will beam internet to remote parts of the world and eventually break the record for longest unmanned aircraft flight,†Zuckerberg wrote.
Facebook, which has more than 1.6 billion users, has invested billions of dollars in getting more people online both through building drones and an initiative called internet.org.
Alphabet Inc has also poured money into delivering internet access to underserved areas through ProjectLoon, which aims to use a network of high-altitude balloons to made the internet available to remote parts of the world.
Social Media Updates:
Today we're proud to announce the first test flight of Aquila — it flies on roughly the power of three blowdryers! pic.twitter.com/qN8U5kj4uf
— Meta (@Meta) July 21, 2016