Facebook’s ambitious drone plans just got a little more real. The social network on Thursday revealed more details about Aquila, the airplane-sized solar-powered drone first teased at this year’s F8 conference back in March.
Named after the eagle in Greek mythology who carried Jupiter’s thunderbolts, the Aquila drone is a beast. The V-shaped, carbon fiber-layered prototype weighs between 880 lbs. and 1,000 lbs. — roughly the equivalent of a Toyota Prius — with a wingspan comparable to a Boeing 737 and is capable of flying at altitudes between 60,000 feet and 90,000 for three months at a time, Facebook global head of engineering Jay Parikh explained at an event at Facebook’s Menlo Park headquarters.
Facebook has completed construction on one full-sized drone, as well as a handful of smaller drones at one-tenth the scale for testing purposes.
Parikh explained the Aquila was one step in trying to bring the Internet to the remaining 10% of the world’s population who lack Internet connectivity.
“If you’re looking at your little quadcopters, this is not what we’re building,” Parikh quipped.
When designing Aquila, Facebook focused on three elements: solar power, altitude and duration. The social network wanted the drone to be self-powered for months at a time and be able to fly above commercial airspace and weather elements to minimize complications. And when the time comes, the Aquila can land on the ground like a glider, safely coasting to a designated area on the ground.
Image: JP Mangalindan, Mashable
Image: JP Mangalindan, Mashable
Interestingly, Aquila will be deployed via balloon. A helium balloon will be attached, float the drone up to around 70,000 feet, after which Aquila will detach itself.
During the day, the Aquila will follow a 3 kilometer flight radius, flying between 80,000 feet and 90,000 feet above sea level. It will descend to 60,000 feet at night, partly to conserve energy.
One of Facebook’s breakthroughs includes Internet connectivity and data transmission through laser. The social network’s laser communications team, based in Woodland Hills, California, developed laser technology capable of transmitting data at tens of gigabits per second. In theory, this new technology will enable Facebook to create a vast Internet network in the sky by transmitting data via laser from the ground to a drone, as well as from drone to drone.
The Aquila is just one part of Internet.org, the Facebook-backed organization that Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched in 2013, aimed at bringing Internet connectivity to the remaining 10% of the world’s population who lack access. The service partners with local telecomm companies and developers to offer a free, basic Internet experience with access to things like Facebook, Wikipedia and BBC News.Facebook announced earlier this year that Internet.org has helped more than 7 million people in countries such as Columbia, India, Zambia, and Tanzania and wants to be in 100 countries by the end of this year.
But that plan has hit serious obstacles. In April, for example, a group of Internet companies withdrew their support from Internet.org in India following a national backlash over net neutrality.
While Zuckerberg views Internet.org as taking an “Internet for all”-type approach, critics argue Internet.org actually follows a “Zero rating” model, wherein service providers offer customers a set of services or applications that are free to use without a data plan or that don’t factor in data plan usage. Worse still, they maintain, Internet.org could create a “two-tiered Internet,” a scenario where new Internet users “get stuck on a separate and unequal path to Internet connectivity, which will serve to widen — not narrow — the digital divide.”
Facebook, for its part, has tried addressing the criticism recently by rolling out the Internet.org platform this May, which lets outside developers create complimentary services. And on this Wednesday’s earnings call, Zuckerberg reported that 50% of people who come aboard Internet.org pay for services within 30 days.
Parikh and Facebook Engineering Director of Connectivity Yael Maguire confessed there’s much more work to be done on Aquila before its ready for large-scale deployment. For example, Facebook will spend the second half of this year to refine Aquila’s industrial design, especially around the drone’s solar and battery technology.