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The original effort was all the way back in 1997 by a company called Teledesic. But it was essentially abandoned after other satcom constellations like Iridium
by verzali 2y ago
The original effort was all the way back in 1997 by a company called Teledesic. But it was essentially abandoned after other satcom constellations like Iridium when bankrupt.
Loon was an interesting attempt. I'm surprised we don't see any one trying to make HAPS (high altitude solar powered drones, essentially) work for communications. In principle they can do the same as satellites but more effectively and at better latency. A good HAPS network over the US could probably offer better than Starlink service for cheaper.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- basementcat 2y agoFacebook's Aquila was a HAPS drone. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Aquila https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facebook_Aquila
- verzali 2y agoDo you know why they haven't taken it further? The page talks about Zephyr drones as a follow-up, but I can't find much about them actually doing any further tests.
- basementcat 2y agohttps://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/06/26/facebook-abandons-plans-to-build-drones-for-delivering-internet.html https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/06/26/facebook-abandons-plans-... My understanding is that FB hired lots of smart people who were very good at building research prototypes but not as experienced in building low cost products. Eventually the company refocused on the "metaverse" and many of the personnel at the Connectivity Lab were transferred to Amazon Kuiper.