Google has reportedly been testing flying bourdon that could be able of delivering high - speed Internet to the ground . The secretive Project SkyBender would see the solar - powered vehicles supply a 5G - tantamount connection for consumers .
The call all stem from a report byThe Guardian , which find that Google was testing solar - power drones at Spaceport America in New Mexico . This spaceport is the one being used by Virgin Galactic for its touristry business .
Google has taken up mansion at the spaceport , where it has been using its own mastery center to monitor an “ optionally piloted ” aircraft , aCentaur , which is a vehicle that can operate both with and without a human on board .
The aircraft is usingmillimeter - wafture technologyto communicate , which has been touted as a room to deliver high - speed net , with speeds of several gigabits a second potential . This is 40 times faster than the technology used in 4 G today . The only issue with millimeter - wave is that is fades apace , something Google has been aiming to solve with these test .
Google has its pot dress on thousands of high - altitude autonomous drones being used to broadcast Internet to the earth . Indeed , alongside the Centaur aircraft the tech company has been flying a solar - powered trailer calledSolara 50 , which could one day organize the cornerstone of this military service .
Google has permit to keep tests until July , and this is n’t the only ambitious Internet - delivery project it has on the go . It is also working onProject Loon , a serial of high - EL balloons that can beam a connection to the earth .
Both are in their very early stages at the moment , though , so of course there are no details on when , or if , either will become commercially useable . But the developments will be interesting to keep an heart on , at any rate .
And this is n’t the only intelligence coming out of Spaceport America . OnFebruary 19 , Virgin Galactic are plan to unveil their young SpaceShipTwo vehicle that will take paying customers into space in the next few years , following the tragical disaster back inNovember 2014that saw cobalt - pilot Michael Alsbury turn a loss his lifetime .
