Facebook Unmanned Aircraft Comes Bearing Internet

According to Facebook Inc FB, the company formed the Facebook Connectivity Lab to build new technologies — including aircraft, satellites, and wireless communications systems — to help solve the problem of four billion people without Internet access

The Connectivity Lab announced a bid milestone in this work on Thursday, by implementing the first full-scale test flight of Aquila, a solar-powered unmanned aircraft that can be used to bring affordable internet to hundreds of millions of people in the hardest-to-reach places. Aquila is expected to circle a region up to 60 miles in diameter, beaming connectivity down from an altitude of more than 60,000 feet using laser communications and millimeter wave systems.

"We're encouraged by this first successful flight, but we have a lot of work ahead of us. In fact, to reach our goal of being able to fly over a remote region and deliver connectivity for up to three months at time, we will need to break the world record for solar-powered unmanned flight, which currently stands at two weeks. This will require significant advancements in science and engineering to achieve," the report said.