Why did Facebook's solar drone Aquila fail the first test flight?

In June of this year, Facebook's solar drone Aquila made its first test flight. The Aquila is huge and its wingspan exceeds that of the Boeing 737. Aquila flew over the Arizona desert for more than 90 minutes, but accidentally fell on landing.

Why did Facebook's solar drone Aquila fail the first test flight?

Facebook has been working for this for two years before the Aquila drone test flight. Facebook hopes to use drones to provide network services to underdeveloped areas that lack a stable Internet signal.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NaTIonal TransportaTIon Safety Board) said in a report released on Friday that "the aircraft was badly damaged."

The reason for Aquila's landing failure may be strong winds. Aquila was blown off the fairway by the wind before landing, causing the autopilot controller to lower the aircraft's predecessor and accelerate as the plane landed.

The impetuous landing caused serious damage to the right wing of the aircraft, but no injuries were caused and the ground was not damaged.

In July, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a blog post that the company had planned to let Aquila test flight for 30 minutes, but as the flight went smoothly, the engineers decided to let the aircraft fly twice as much. , a total of 96 minutes. Aquila took off when the sun rose in the early morning.

In an extra hour of flight, the air temperature gradually increased. Yael Maguire, who is in charge of the ConnecTIvity Lab, said in an interview with TechCrunch that during the last four seconds of the flight, his team noticed hot air and unexpected winds. .

After the plane crashed, Facebook immediately reported a landing failure to the US National Transportation Safety Board, but the company was banned from publishing detailed information about the plane's fall until the regulator completed the report.

Facebook said the company is developing an upgraded version of the Aquila drone, and the new version of Aquila will have a new brake system to make the landing of the aircraft smoother.

Facebook's goal is to enable Aquila drones to be released continuously for 60 to 90 days because it is solar powered and does not require refueling.

Aquila is not Facebook's first Internet access service project. The company also has a free web service project called Free Basics, which provides free, basic network services to 53 countries and cities around the world.

However, Indian Internet regulators blocked Free Basics' services in India earlier this year, claiming the service violated network neutrality.

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