Social networking giant Facebook is all set to test its ambitious Aquila drone program in summer 2015. Facebook announced that the drone is a solar powered aircraft and will have a wingspan of a commercial passenger jet.
The drone’s length is expected to be equivalent to six or seven Toyota Priuses, but will weigh just up to four car tyres. The drones will be capable of beaming broadband across the globe and would help Facebook towards its dream to provide internet access to two thirds of the plant which is still deprived of.
Jay Parikh, the vice president of engineering said, “We are working towards a real test flight this summer sometime”. Facebook earlier tested a one tenth version of the present drone but this is expected to be much bigger. The VP of engineering added, “Depending on how this test flight goes, we’ll see what happens”. parikh also said that it is a big project that is never done before.
The drone uses solar and battery technology which has just been developed due to which it is still very much in experimental stage. But the drones are not expected to be commercially available any time soon. Facebook has denied reports that it would start its own Internet Service Provider explaining that such a decision would go against the company’s key goals.
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