A year ago, Facebook revealed details about its plans to use unmanned drone airships to beam the internet down to the estimated 4 billion people worldwide without it. Today, the social networking company announced that Aquila, its solar-powered craft has completed its first full-scale test flight.
According to details, this inaugural functional check was low-altitude and the aircraft remained in the air for more than 90 minutes - 3 times longer than Facebook had originally planned. The company claimed that it verified performance in aerodynamics, batteries, control systems, and crew training. It has already planned a second test which will test Aquila's speed and altitude tolerance before achieving a goal of soaring above 60,000 feet.
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Facebook's Aquila solar-powered plane completes first full-scale test flight
from Social – VentureBeat http://ift.tt/2a3fDUf
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