Facebook's Slender 'Aquila' Drone To Provide Internet In Remote Areas

Mickeycaskill writes: Facebook will start testing a 400kg drone with the wingspan of a Boeing 737 next year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said, as part of the company's drive to connect people in remote areas to the Internet. Aquila will fly between 60,000ft and 90,000ft as to avoid adverse weather conditions and commercial air routes, while the attached laster can transmit data at 10Gbps. Facebook claims it can accurately connect with a point the size of a US 5-cent coin from more than 10 miles away.

Re:

[kheldan]

Sexconker, you certainly didn't intend it, but for once you're right: Facebook is for cows.

Should we get you a different toy to play with than just the See and Say? Surely you're getting bored with it by now, kiddo. How about a nice Ironman Mister Potato-head [hasbro.com]?

Re:

[Dunbal]

Of course said drone was snooping in his backyard filming his daughters and looking under his porch, not flying a circuit at 90,000 feet.

Aquila was actually an R/C sailplane design

[Anonymous Coward]

Aquila was actually an R/C sailplane design from before your were born. I have the plans in my closet. Great plane for sure. It was never a "drone" (whatever the fuck than means any more). Fucking kids these days. No knowledge, no skill, only Internet.

Re:

[thinkwaitfast]

Hey, have you seen outerzone? Someday in about 2 years, it will be my goal in life to build all of these. I have plans for the Saggita XC, but am currently building a large workshop. I guess that with modern flight stabilization systems [hobbyking.com], anything can be made flyable.

Aquila Grande [outerzone.co.uk]
Aquila [outerzone.co.uk]

Re:

[Joce640k]

It was never a "drone" (whatever the fuck than means any more).

Is there a human in it? No...then...

Re:

[thinkwaitfast]

Kites, rc cars, unoccupied google autonomous cars, paper airplanes, male bees Mars rovers, New Horizons.

Why a laster? Are they making shoes?

[guruevi]

I'm quite familiar with Internet tech but never heard the need to stretch leather to make shoes. Perhaps they're making shoes for people so they can walk to the Internet cafe?

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[invictusvoyd]

If you increase the laser output ,the facebook drone can carve leather from 90000 ft . It can also fry your "enter key" if It does not like your posts.

the wingspan of 737 is "slender"?

[Anonymous Coward]

Granted a 737 is smaller than a 747 or A380, but I would hardly call it "slender", as far as aircraft go.

Re:

[viperidaenz]

Just wait for 120,000lbs landing on someone's head or house when a 737 goes down!

Re:

[John.Banister]

I think "slender" was in reference to the fuselage, not the wings.

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[Joce640k]

It's almost as if you didn't look at the picture in the linked article.

Re:

[John.Banister]

You're right, I didn't. I was remembering a picture of this [go.com] Facebook drone for internet. It probably has a different name.

Re:

[viperidaenz]

To be fair, Yahoo! isn't much of a company anymore.

Re:

[K. S. Kyosuke]

Clearly the government outsourced all intelligence work to Facebook. Facebook now has ELINT drones. Optical reconnaissance will come next, I presume?

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[SuricouRaven]

Their codename betrays them: I wouldn't name a drone Aquila unless it has some high-resolution cameras.

as part of which drive, again?

[Anonymous Coward]

as part of the company's drive to connect people in remote areas to Facebook.

Fixed that for them.

Wow

[Anonymous Coward]

It doesn't take a house full of popcorn to see that Zuck is a real genius.

Watch out!

[fustakrakich]

Those 5-cent coins are made out of wood! They'll light right up!

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

If they hit a nickel at 10 miles, then at 11.4 miles they can hit a quarter. Finding the coin that matches 17 miles is left as an exercise ...

A non starter

[Anonymous Coward]

Hitting a 5 cent size target from 10 miles away is quite useless when you are 17 miles up. Who comes up with that stuff?

Re:

[Anonymous Coward]

hey, it's a metaphor, just like using "Library of Congress" as a unit for information volume. 1 microradian pointing isn't something most people have a gut feel for. And, of course, they won't need to hit that small a target: more likely the ground terminal will have a 10cm or so aperture.

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[rogoshen1]

okay, so how many libraries of congress could it hit with it's laser at 17 miles? If you're going to get all technical on us, deliver something useful.

Re: A non starter

[dnaumov]

You need to immideately contact Facebook and warn them they are wasting money on this project.

Re:

[Dunbal]

so the USA will be more inclined to go to war with nations like Iran in the near future.

And everyone in America forgets how pigeons have a tendency to come home to roost. Remember - they hate you for your "freedoms"!

The World is Burning and They Want This?

[Anonymous Coward]

Excuse me, but does this seem out of touch to anybody else? The world has much bigger problems than Internet access in remote areas. While Zuckerberg is busy playing with drones Syria is still burning, disease, poverty and starvation continue to grip most of the African continent and Vladimir Putin threatens to take Europe and the United States to the brink of war, not even to mention the bellicose Chinese policies of military expansion in the South China Sea. At least Bill Gates is pursuing more practical

And someone from Kentucky will shoot it down.

[hodet]

Boom motherf.......

Re:

[viperidaenz]

Russian rebels in Ukraine can

Aquila?

[Samizdata]

The Emperor provides...WiFi...