Flying Wing to Provide Internet Access

As reported by Wired.com, on July 22, 2016, Facebook chairman, chief executive officer, and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg, in the company of friends, family and colleagues, watched the first successful flight of his amazing giant flying wing – the Aquila (“eagle” in Latin).  This enormous machine, with a wingspan exceeding that of a Boeing 737 jetliner, will eventually broadcast the internet to tens of millions of people.

Aquila’s test flight lasted 96 minutes. The craft is constructed from carbon fiber. This project is both a technical masterwork and an enormous humanitarian initiative that will improve the lives of innumerable people in countries such as India and Nigeria.  Aquila will fly circular patterns at an altitude of approximately 60,000 feet, which is above the most violent weather. It will nonetheless need to deal with extremely cold temperatures and occasional gusts.