In Australia drone falls during a 5G test

A military-grade surveillance drone, engaged in a project that should help Facebook become a global provider of internet services, would have crashed during a secret experimental flight in the desert region of Kimberley in northwest Australia. According to an exclusive report from The Australian today. The drone, an Airbus Zephir with a 25 meter wingspan that goes to solar energy and is able to fly in the stratosphere for several weeks, was supposed to conduct a one-month mission from the beginning of April but, according to sources quoted by the newspaper, suffered an accident after take-off.

The flight was to demonstrate the communication capabilities of Facebook and Airbus's high altitude pseudosatellite (High Altitude Pseudo-Satellite, or HAPS), ahead of a conference in Egypt in the coming months. On that occasion it is expected that various companies will compete for control of the Wi-Fi spectrum in the implementation of the 5G mobile network. According to experts, securing an appropriate HAPS can be crucial in Facebook's drive to expand its internet service and plant supply. The experimental flight was to demonstrate that a Zephir equipped with the designated technology could provide internet services at several remote test sites on the ground.

Facebook's attempts to connect "the next billion" of internet users have been criticized for the potential to sow divisions, such as the spread of hate speeches responsible for ethnic violence in Myanmar and dissemination propaganda for the president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte.