Facebook announced the second test flight of Aquila, the solar-powered airplane that will be used to bring affordable internet to hundreds of millions of people in the hardest-to-reach places.
Aquila is designed to be hyper efficient, so it can fly for up to three months at a time. The aircraft has the wingspan of an airliner, but at cruising speed it will consume only 5,000 watts — the same amount as three hair dryers, or a high-end microwave.
The body of the plane is made of a carbon fiber composite and the whole thing weighs less than 1,000 pounds, "or about the same as a grand piano” Mark Zuckerberg wrote one year ago in a post. “We need to continue to make it lighter”.
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10 July 2017
