60,000 feet is more than the service ceiling of most commercial airliners.

Boeing 777 for example has a service ceiling of about 43,000ft ~ 13km.



On Fri, Jul 22, 2016 at 6:23 AM, Tony White via skunkworks <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> wrote:
Will they not become a hazard for commercial airliners?  A
quick-and-dirty calculation for Kenya shows that we would have about
120 of these buzzing around overhead, each covering an area of about
5000 square kilometres.  I wonder what KCAA will have to say about
this ;)

Cheers,
Tony


On 21/07/2016, Mwendwa Kivuva via skunkworks <skunkworks@lists.my.co.ke> wrote:
> I would want to hear what Ms Ebele, the Head of Public Policy for Africa at
> FB, has to say on plans for the marginalised.
>
> It's beautiful, and audacious too. Aquila is a solar-powered airplane that
> can be used to bring affordable internet to hundreds of millions of people
> in the hardest-to-reach places. When complete, Aquila will be able to
> circle a region up to 60 miles in diameter, beaming connectivity down from
> an altitude of more than 60,000 feet using laser communications and
> millimeter wave systems. Aquila is designed to be hyper efficient, so it
> can fly for up to three months at a time. The aircraft has the wingspan of
> an airliner, but at cruising speed it will consume only 5,000 watts — the
> same amount as three hair dryers, or a high-end microwave.
>
> See the Youtube video: https://youtu.be/eOez_Hk80TI
>
> Regards
> ______________________
> Mwendwa Kivuva, Nairobi, Kenya
> twitter.com/lordmwesh
>


--
Tony White

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