Facebook Reveals Plan for Unmanned Internet Airplanes
Published at(SAN FRANCISCO) — In his mission to connect the world, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed on Thursday that his company has been quietly testing unmanned aircraft that can beam Internet access from the sky.
“Aircraft like these will help connect the whole world because they can affordably serve the 10 percent of the world’s population that live in remote communities without existing Internet infrastructure,” Zuckerberg wrote on his Facebook page Thursday.
He said he would share more about the initiative in a keynote address Thursday afternoon at Facebook’s F8 developer conference.
The aircraft has already gone on one test flight in the United Kingdom, Zuckerberg said. It’s expected the final design will produce an airplane with the wingspan of a Boeing 737 but lighter than a car.
Running on solar power, Zuckerberg said it’s expected the plane could fly at altitudes of more than 60,000 feet for months at a time.
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