Facebook’s Internet-Beaming Aquila Drone Crash-Landed After First Flight

The drone that Facebook launched back in June has finally resurfaced and, following a thorough investigation into its whereabouts, was found to have crash-landed due to windy conditions.

Partway through the maiden voyage, the turbulence caused one of the wings of the drone to completely snap, causing it to crash in Yuma, Arizona. Thankfully, the craft was completely unmanned and there was no ground or property damage sustained.

Knowledge of the crash has only been made public recently, with Facebook remaining tight-lipped on the whereabouts of the drone and details of the testing.

Facebooks’s Connectivity Lab had developed a drone with the intention of flying it over various locations as a means or beaming Internet to different homes as a cheap way for the world to access the Internet.

If successful, countries with poor Internet connectivity or no access to the Internet whatsoever will be able to go online without paying steep prices. This is an exciting prospect but seems to need a lot more work before it can be viable.

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