I worked on this at Facebook very briefly. I believe the project was called Aquila internally.
I worked with a famous engineer who joined Facebook from a well known british aircraft manufacturer. He was an aerodynamics expert and was trying to solve the problems of flutter and other dynamic instability in the extremely large, high aspect ratio, lightweight composite wing.
I wasn't officially told this, but I believe the reason the project failed was two fold:
1. Traditional satellites became cheap enough that high altitude pseudo satellites weren't worth it anymore.
2. Facebook free basics (internet.org) achieved enough success partnering with traditional mobile network operators that it wasn't needed.
I have some pretty crazy anecdotes to share about the project if anyone is interested?
I worked with a famous engineer who joined Facebook from a well known british aircraft manufacturer. He was an aerodynamics expert and was trying to solve the problems of flutter and other dynamic instability in the extremely large, high aspect ratio, lightweight composite wing.
I wasn't officially told this, but I believe the reason the project failed was two fold:
1. Traditional satellites became cheap enough that high altitude pseudo satellites weren't worth it anymore. 2. Facebook free basics (internet.org) achieved enough success partnering with traditional mobile network operators that it wasn't needed.
I have some pretty crazy anecdotes to share about the project if anyone is interested?