Four years ago,forced sex at home videos Facebook shared with the world its ambitious dream of building massive drones. Today, that dream is dead.
In a Tuesday blog post, the company announced the end of its Aquila program, an effort to construct a "high altitude platform station system" (read: massive drones) that sought to bring high-speed internet access — and, of course, access to Facebook — to an estimated 4 billion people across the globe who do not have it.
"As we've worked on these efforts, it's been exciting to see leading companies in the aerospace industry start investing in this technology too — including the design and construction of new high-altitude aircraft," Yael Maguire, an engineering director at the company, said in the Facebook post. "Given these developments, we've decided not to design or build our own aircraft any longer, and to close our facility in Bridgwater."
Facebook will continue to work with companies such as Airbus on software and hardware to help aircraft beam internet down to the masses.
The solar-powered Aquila had the wingspan of a Boeing 737. It was meant to fly at high altitudes and beam signals down to small dishes and towers, which would convert them into Wi-Fi and LTE signals for people in remote areas.
It completed two test flights, including one in 2016 that was investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board over a "structural failure" that left the drone "substantially damaged."
Topics Facebook
(Editor: {typename type="name"/})
NYT Strands hints, answers for May 1
Tracy Morgan opens up about how his nearly fatal accident changed his life
Toilets in new Apple campus were inspired by iPhones, report says
Pray for Trumble: A sinkhole opened up near the Australian PM's house
What's new to streaming this week? (March 7, 2025)
Powerful New Orleans tornado damages NASA's Michoud rocket factory
PayPal created a bot that lets you pay friends via Slack
China wants to control what apps citizens use. But will Google play ball?
NYT Connections Sports Edition hints and answers for May 18: Tips to solve Connections #237
Hands on with Moment's Battery Photo Case for iPhone 7 and 7 Plus
Android Performance Tips and Tweaks
'World of Warcraft' markets are going nuts thanks to a change in gold use
接受PR>=1、BR>=1,流量相当,内容相关类链接。