Social media Legend Facebook, which was working on an determined plan to deliver internet in remote areas through solar-powered drones 'Aquila', on Wednesday publicized that the plan has been discarded. Facebook, which was engaged on the plan since the year 2014, held "technical and geographical limitations" responsible for this decision. "We've decided not to design or build our own aircraft," Facebook added. In a post on the company’s coding site, Facebook’s Yael Maguire disclosed that “we’ve decided not to design or build our own aircraft any longer, and to close our facility in Bridgewater.” Closing of this facility comes with the loss of 16 jobs specifically in the development and maintenance of the aircraft, though the other aspects of this project were unaffected. The company will keep continuing its work with partners, such as Airbus, to help advance high altitude platform stations (HAPS) like the Aquila. The program has been underway since 2014 and public since 2015, and had its first test flight in 2016 resulting in a “structural failure,” hard landing and subsequent NTSB investigation. The second test flight was better, but far from perfect.
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