Will they not become a hazard for commercial airliners? A quick-and-dirty calculation for Kenya shows that we would have about 120 of these buzzing around overhead, each covering an area of about 5000 square kilometres. I wonder what KCAA will have to say about this ;) Cheers, Tony On 21/07/2016, Mwendwa Kivuva via skunkworks <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> wrote:
I would want to hear what Ms Ebele, the Head of Public Policy for Africa at FB, has to say on plans for the marginalised.
It's beautiful, and audacious too. Aquila is a solar-powered airplane that can be used to bring affordable internet to hundreds of millions of people in the hardest-to-reach places. When complete, Aquila will be able to circle a region up to 60 miles in diameter, beaming connectivity down from an altitude of more than 60,000 feet using laser communications and millimeter wave systems. 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.
See the Youtube video: https://youtu.be/eOez_Hk80TI
Regards ______________________ Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya twitter.com/lordmwesh
-- Tony White