New Technologies enabling Solar Powered Stratospheric drones for Global Internet, 5G wireless and Military Surveillance

Aerospace companies including Facebook, Boeing and Google have been trying for years to create a solar-powered plane that can fly at high altitudes for years at a time, and can provide broadband communication services. They could have many uses, for example acting as a relay station for communications in emergencies such as natural disasters that have knocked out ground-based telephones and internet links. Civil applications could include pipeline, crop and forestry fire monitoring, fisheries protection and border control. Military is also turning to solar powered stratospheric drones for communications and persistent, wide area, real time Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR).