Facebook Ready to Test Solar-Powered Drone that Delivers Internet

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Facebook has released information on the first full-scale drones designed to deliver Internet services to underserved populations across the globe that lack developed infrastructure.

The solar-powered craft was designed by a U.K. firm and will be tested in the U.S. as soon as guidelines are created to help it fly safely, though no regulatory barriers are currently on the books.

With a wingspan of a Boeing 737, the drones will fly higher than commercial airlines at a height of between 60,000 and 90,000 feet, making them immune to weather. The Guardianpublished this video online:

Since they have no wheels to land or significant engine for lift, the drones will be carried into the atmosphere by a weather balloon, then stay airborne for months at a time, using solar energy to control their glide. The technology is part of <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CB8QFjAAahUKEwjoooXOy4XHAhWGdj4KHbazDZs&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.internet.org%2F&ei=mIe7Vej2CIbt-QG257bYCQ&usg=AFQjCNHHvgOmPpmjzK6HdD4nMUt7bZpxmw&bvm=bv.99261572,d.cWw">Facebook’s Internet.org</a> initiative that aims to bring new technology to ISPs and, perhaps eventually, will blanket the globe in a Wi-Fi signal. The project is not without detractors, however, including the original creator of the World Wide Web, Tim Berners-Lee. Internet.org aims to deliver online services to two-thirds of the globe, but access is limited to a “walled-garden version” of the Internet. Berners-Lee thinks platforms that don’t offer open web access represent <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/may/29/tim-berners-lee-urges-britain-to-fight-snoopers-charter">a step backward</a> from the democratizing power of the Internet. He told The Guardian: <blockquote> In the particular case of somebody who’s offering … something which is branded Internet, it’s not Internet; then you just say no. No it isn’t free; no it isn’t in the public domain; there are other ways of reducing the price of Internet connectivity and giving something … [only] giving people data connectivity to part of the network deliberately, I think is a step backwards. </blockquote> Read more at the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-33728704">BBC</a> and <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jul/31/facebook-finishes-aquila-solar-powered-internet-drone-with-span-of-a-boeing-737">The Guardian</a>. Photo credit: <a href="https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10101993038596471&set=a.529237706231.2034669.4&type=3&theater">Facebook</a>

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