Facebook to begin testing its Internet drone this year

The solar-powered aircraft can stay aloft for months and provide Internet to remote regions

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, speaks at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Feb. 22, 2016. Credit: GSMA

Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook, speaks at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona on Feb. 22, 2016. Credit: GSMA

Facebook will begin test flights of its solar-powered Internet drone later this year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Monday.

The Aqulia aircraft has the wingspan of a Boeing 737 but weighs about the same as a car. Its wings are covered in solar panels that provide enough energy to keep it aloft for three to six months at an altitude of 60,000 to 90,000 feet, well above aircraft.

It's one of Facebook's answers to the problem of extending low-cost Internet access to parts of the world that don't currently receive it. It's also something of an engineering marvel.

"The idea is you can send it out to a place where it might be too expensive to deploy infrastructure otherwise," Zuckerberg said. "It will just fly and stay up there and can beam down Internet access."

Facebook unveiled the project in June 2015 and has been working on perfecting the aircraft and the laser communications system that will be used to link drones together and to ground stations.

Internet users will receive WiFi or LTE signals from the drone.

"We’re going to do our first trials at full scale a bit later this year," said Zuckerberg, speaking at Mobile World Congress in Barcelona.

Engineers are currently flying a scale model every week in tests ahead of the flight of the full-size craft, he said.

If the project goes according to plan, Facebook will be in a position to take the idea to telecommunications carriers. Like Google, which is proposing using balloons, Facebook will offer the service to existing mobile networks rather than direct to users.

"Hopefully in the next year or so, we’ll be able to incorporate this into what we come and talk to our operator partners about, to help extend all the networks to regions where it might not have been previously economical to build out traditional terrestrial networks," Zuckerberg said.

Join the newsletter!

Or

Sign up to gain exclusive access to email subscriptions, event invitations, competitions, giveaways, and much more.

Membership is free, and your security and privacy remain protected. View our privacy policy before signing up.

Error: Please check your email address.

Tags MWC 2016

Keep up with the latest tech news, reviews and previews by subscribing to the Good Gear Guide newsletter.

Martyn Williams

IDG News Service
Show Comments

Most Popular Reviews

Latest Articles

Resources

PCW Evaluation Team

Cate Bacon

Aruba Instant On AP11D

The strength of the Aruba Instant On AP11D is that the design and feature set support the modern, flexible, and mobile way of working.

Dr Prabigya Shiwakoti

Aruba Instant On AP11D

Aruba backs the AP11D up with a two-year warranty and 24/7 phone support.

Tom Pope

Dynabook Portégé X30L-G

Ultimately this laptop has achieved everything I would hope for in a laptop for work, while fitting that into a form factor and weight that is remarkable.

Tom Sellers

MSI P65

This smart laptop was enjoyable to use and great to work on – creating content was super simple.

Lolita Wang

MSI GT76

It really doesn’t get more “gaming laptop” than this.

Featured Content

Product Launch Showcase

Don’t have an account? Sign up here

Don't have an account? Sign up now

Forgot password?