FAILURE TO LAUNCH

Facebook Gives Up on Its ‘Flying Internet’ Plan

Would have used drones to beam down internet connectivity.

Facebook is giving up on its plan to create a “flying internet” that would use drones to beam down internet connectivity. Project Aquila, which was announced in 2014, failed to achieve the long flight times managed by similar projects by rivals, including Google, BBC News reports, and one recent test resulted in a craft breaking a wing as it landed. “It’s been exciting to see leading companies in the aerospace industry start investing in this technology —including the design and construction of new high-altitude aircraft,” wrote Yael Maguire, Facebook’s director of engineering, in a blog post. “Given these developments, we’ve decided not to design or build our own aircraft any longer.” The decision to end the project will mean the closure of a facility in the U.K. that had been used to build the technology.