Facebook cancels its internet drone program, will partner with Airbus instead

News Brief: Facebook says it’s ending its campaign to build a fleet of high-altitude drones to boost internet connectivity, after spending millions of dollars on the years-long effort. In a Facebook blog post, engineering director Yael Maguire noted that other companies were building high-altitude platform stations, or HAPS. “Going forward, we’ll continue to work with partners like Airbus on HAPS connectivity generally, and on the other technologies needed to make this system work, like flight control computers and high-density batteries,” Maguire said. The announcement was made just as IEEE Spectrum published a report detailing the setbacks that Facebook encountered in its campaign.