Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg posted an update on his FB social media page regarding testing of an unmanned drone.
Zuckerberg posted “In this test, it [the Aquila drone] flew for 1 hour and 46 minutes over the desert and landed smoothly near Yuma, Arizona. We successfully gathered a lot of data to help us optimize Aquila’s efficiency. No one has ever built an unmanned airplane that will fly for months at a time, so we need to tune every detail to get this right.
“When Aquila is ready, it will be a fleet of solar-powered planes that will beam internet connectivity across the world. Today, more than half the world’s population — 4 billion people — still can’t access the internet. One day, Aquila will help change that.”
Aquila’s first flight took place back in June 2016. The flight also took place out of Yuma, Arizona. The original mission was to fly Aquila for 30 minutes, but things went so well that the operators decided to keep the plane up for 96 minutes. At that time, Zuckerberg said, “We gathered lots of data about our models and the aircraft structure — and after two years of development, it was emotional to see Aquila actually get off the ground.”
Aquila has a wingspan wider than a Boeing 737, but has to weigh as little as possible to stay up for as long as possible. The body of the plane is made of a carbon fiber composite so it weighs less than 1,000 pounds.