Facebook completes first test flight of its massive Aquila internet delivery drone
After several months testing smaller scale models, Facebook has successfully completed its first fullscale test flight of the massive Aquila drone. With a wingspan rivaling that of a Boeing 737, only weighing much less due to a carbon fiber composite design, the team reached a major milestone by launching, and flying, the drone for more than 90 minutes more than three times the planned test run. Intending to provide internet to the 1. 6 billion people worldwide that dont have access to it, Facebook plans to use the solarpowered drone to beam coverage to 60milewide areas on the ground while staying airborne for up to 90 days at a time all while drawing no more power than a trio of hair dryers. In future flights the plan is for the Aquila to reach speeds of 70 to 80 miles per hour at altitudes of more than 60, 000(up to 90, 000) feet, a height that would put the drone out of the reach of commercial airliners and weather patterns. But thats in two or more years, according to Jay Parikh, Facebooks Vice
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