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Two innovative ideas to bring Internet access to hard-to-serve areas of the world – using drones and high-altitude balloons – seem to be progressing, even though the two companies pushing the projects aren’t offering a lot of details.
Facebook’s Aquila, using solar-powered drones as wireless Internet relays, and Google sister company X’s Project Loon, using large hot-air balloons in a similar way, both received significant attention when announced earlier in the decade.
In recent years, both projects have plugged along, even as some critics have doubted their long-term viability. While the projects have garnered less attention in recent years, Facebook launched test flights of an Aquila drone in June 2016 and May 2017.
Recent weeks have brought new updates about both initiatives, although the companies still aren’t talking much.
On June 27, Facebook announced it will stop building its own drones. While some early news reports suggested that Facebook was shutting down its drone-based Internet initiative, the company emphasized that it would instead depend on other companies to build aircraft.
“Going forward, we’ll continue to work with partners like Airbus on [high-altitude] connectivity generally, and on the other technologies needed to make this system work, like flight control computers and Continue reading