Facebook posted a first look at the solar-powered drone, called Aquila, which was built to deliver Internet connectivity to remote parts of the world.
The aircraft has the wingspan of a Boeing 737 and a battery life of three months. It will use lasers to transmit data to the ground faster and with more precision than any previous technologies.
The project is part of Facebook’s Internet.org, which aims to bring Internet access to the places people have little or none. Facebook has been working with mobile operators to provide free access to parts of the Web on low-end phones. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote that the drone technology is necessary for the most remote locations.
“This effort is important because 10 percent of the world’s population lives in areas without existing Internet infrastructure. To affordably connect everyone, we need to build completely new technologies,” he wrote. Facebook plans to test the systems “in the real world” over the coming months.
