Facebook Develops Solar Powered Internet Drone.

 

The social media giant Facebook best known for its online software that allows people share news with friends and, watch viral videos has announced that it will begin test flights later this year for a solar-powered drone with a wingspan as big as a Boeing 737, in the next stage of its campaign to deliver internet connectivity to remote parts of the world.

Mark Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page that they’re building drones, satellites and lasers to help the Facebook internet project spread the internet to everyone especially for people living in remote areas. According to him, to connect the whole world they’ll need to develop new technologies. And to achieve this process they’ll need to form new partnership.

To that end the company’s chief technology officer Mike Schroepfer reveals that Facebook is now in partnership with Ascenta, a UK based company that built the first version of Zephyr, one of the  world’s longest flying solar unmanned jets.

The drones have a wingspan as wide as a Boeing 767 and have the weight of a small car. From a height of 18,000 to 27,000 feet, the drones are able to beam down internet connectivity to regions of the world without internet access while staying in the air for about three months at a time.

The goal of this project is basically to help provide high-speed internet to people around the world who currently don’t have access to it.