Internet connection for all

There are now rumours circulating that Facebook is looking to purchase the aerospace company Titan Aerospace only weeks after Facebook splashed out on purchasing Whatsapp. The plan, of the rumours are to believed, are that Facebook will be hoping to use the aerospace company to connect the people of Africa to the internet. This would be achieved by launching a large number of drones to initially fly above Africa and then also above other regions without internet connection.

It is widely accepted that Africa is a significant market with lots of room for development. It is also widely viewed that the economies of the future will be knowledge economies where internet connections will be highly valuable. By tapping into this large market Facebook would most likely be hoping that a significant number of those to be connected will decide to use its online services. The technology is hoping to be significantly cheaper than using satellites and a lot simpler to achieve now that high endurance solar powered aircraft have been developed.

Drones of this nature could also have a whole host of other uses, such as weather and climate monitoring as well as spying and other communication system. Therefore Facebook could use this as a product it could sell to many other clients in different markets across the world, resulting in Facebook becoming more of a conglomerate rather than just a simple internet company.

However the scheme would be in competition with Google's Project Loon which is set to use a series of balloons that circulate the globe to provide internet access to the world below. Google have been testing and refining the technology in New Zealand since June last year with the aim of rolling the system out as soon as possible. As testing is on the way for Project Loon, it could easily be argued that Google is ahead and at an advantage.

The Return of the airship?

In Cardington, Befordshire the world's longest aircraft has been unveiled and promises to cause a revolution. The aircraft, known as Airlander is being manufactured by UK company Hybrid Air Vehicles and is expected to be released into the market to fill a variety of roles.

Interestingly, the hybrid design of the airship means that 60% of the lift is provided by the helium filled balloon and the final 40% is provided by the shape of the balloon acting as an aerofoil. A benefit of using helium also is that it is inert which means that no repeat of the Hindenburg disaster is possible due to it not being possible for helium to catch fire.

The Airlander has the ability to land anywhere as long as it is reasonably flat and has enough space, this opens up the aircraft for use in disaster relief situations where airports might have been destroyed and remote areas cut off. Another benefit of this is that cargo can be delivered into the most remote areas, such as remote desert oil fields which, another market for the aircraft to sell to.

It is claimed that Airlander is 70% more green than current cargo aircraft with the ability to travel for days without refuelling, reaching far across the world at a time.

The US military had initially placed an order for the aircraft but due to the US budget squeeze it has had to cancel the project. The project would have seen Airlander flying at 20,000ft to gather intelligence in war zones. Due to the aircraft's endurance and range, Airlander could have stayed in one position for a long time studying movements on the ground and relaying the information back to base in real time.