I think this is the most exciting video I’ve seen this year. Facebook engineered this solar drone that will stay flying for days to beam the internet down to Earth.
Although the idea of having the internet all over the Planet is very nice, I feel much more intrigued by the fact that there will be a mean of keeping for long periods of time a man made object in the air without the need of sending anything to space. This will open huge possibilities like real time road traffic management, law enforcement, response to disasters, air traffic control, full worldwide communication coverage and so on.
The future never been so close. There are still some risks of potential unlawful use of this technology. But the benefits overcome the possible misuse by far. Future is bright! Enjoy the Aquila’s first flight.
Update 2023: the video was removed from YouTube by Facebook. It is still available in Web Archive: Aquila’s First Flight – YouTube (archive.org)