解讀 Facebook Aquila無人機墜落事故原因！

June, Facebook flew a massive drone with a wingspan surpassing that of a Boeing 737 over the Arizona desert. The unmanned, autonomous aircraft stayed aloft for more than 90 minutes before it crashed upon landing.

在6月，Facebook在美國亞利桑那沙漠上試飛過一架巨大無比的無人機。這架無人機的翼展超過了波音737。 在本次測試中，這架無人機在空中停留的時間超過了90分鐘，之後它便墜機了。

It was the first flight of Facebook』s solar-powered Aquila drone, which the social media company had been working on for two years. Facebook hopes to one day use the drone to beam internet over areas that lack reliable connectivity.

這是Facebook研發的太陽能無人機Aquila的第一次飛行。而為了本次飛行， Facebook這家社交媒體公司辛勤努力地準備了兩年的時間。Facebook之所以研發無人機是希望有一天其能夠通過無人機發射網路信號到「偏遠地區」，為其提供網路服務。

「The aircraft was substantially damaged,」 according to a report issued Friday from the National Transportation Safety Board.

而根據周五從美國國家運輸安全委員會發布的一份報告： Facebook無人機墜機並嚴重損壞。

The failure was likely due to a strong wind gust that lifted the drone above its flightpath right before landing, causing the autopilot controls to lower the nose and speed up as it came down.

失敗的原因可能是由於強風陣。當時飛行器在降落之前強風將飛機提升到飛行路線的上方，導致自動駕駛儀控制器降低機頭，並在飛機降落時加速。

The turbulent landing caused substantial damage to the drone』s right wing, but no one was injured, nor was there any damage on the ground, the report said.

據報告表示：該湍流著陸對 Facebook無人機的右翼造成了嚴重損壞，但所幸沒有人受傷，地面也沒有任何損壞。

Facebook』s drone was only supposed to fly for 30 minutes in its first test run. But as the flight seemed to be going well, the engineers decided to keep the drone airborne three times longer, for a total of 96 minutes, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg boasted in a blog post in July. The flight took place in the early morning, just as the sun began to rise.

Facebook無人機在第一次測試運行中只應該飛行30分鐘。 但由於飛行進展實在是太順利了，所以工程師們決定將無人機測試時間延長到原來時間的3倍——共計96分鐘。Facebook首席執行官馬克·扎克伯格（Mark Zuckerberg）還在7月的一篇博文中表示：「飛行在清晨發生，就像太陽開始上升一樣。」

During the extra hour of flight, the sun heated the air. Yael Maguire, who heads Facebook』s Connectivity Lab, told TechCrunch that in the last four seconds of flight, his team noted thermal changes and unexpected wind that they hadn』t encountered in simulations.

在額外的飛行測試時間中，太陽逐漸高升，氣溫也隨之上升。 負責Facebook連接實驗室的Yael Maguire表示：在飛行的最後四秒，他的團隊注意到了當地溫度的變化和意想不到的氣流，然而這些情況他們都沒有在模擬情況中遇到。

Facebook reported the landing failure to the National Transportation Safety Board right away, according to a Friday blog post, but the company was prohibited from sharing details of the crash until the regulators were done writing their report.

根據星期五的博文，Facebook當時已經立即向國家運輸安全委員會報告無人機著陸失敗。但該公司被禁止透露墜機的任何信息，直到監管機構完成撰寫報告。

The social media company said that it is already working on an updated version of the Aquila drone, with a new kind of brake system that will help the autopilot land more smoothly.

Facebook表示，他們已經在升級 Aquila 無人機了，它將配備一種新的制動系統，以幫助自動駕駛儀降落得更加順利。

Eventually, Facebook hopes to fly its drone for 60 to 90 days at a time, since it』s solar-powered and doesn』t need to refuel.

最終，Facebook希望Aquila無人機一次能飛行60至90天，因為它是太陽能供電，不需要加油。

Aquila isn』t Facebook』s first project aimed at providing internet connectivity to areas that lack reliable access. The company also runs Free Basics, a zero-rated, limited version of the internet that Facebook offers to users for free in 53 countries and municipalities around the world.

Aquila無人機並不是Facebook第一個旨在為缺乏可靠訪問互聯網路徑的區域提供互聯網連接方式的項目。 該公司還運行 Free Basics，這是一個零級，有限的互聯網版本，Facebook將提供給全球53個國家和城市的用戶免費使用。

Regulators in India, however, banned Free Basics earlier this year, claiming that the service was a violation of network neutrality in that it privileged access to some websites over others.

然而，在今年早些時候印度的監管機構禁止了 Free Basics，並聲稱該服務由於只能訪問特定網站，因此違反網路中立性。

According to the Internet.org website, which is the homepage of the Free Basics program, anyone is allowed to add their website to the platform as long as they adhere to Facebook』s guidelines to 「optimize for performance on older phones and slower network connections.」 But Facebook still acts as the gatekeeper.

根據Facebook Free Basics項目的首頁——Internet.org網站的情況，其實任何人都可以添加他們的網站到此平台上，只要他們遵守Facebook的規定去「優化其網站在老年手機上的性能和適應較慢的網路連接。」 但Facebook仍然是這個項目的守門員。

When Zuckerberg first shared his ambitions for Aquila, he said it was part of the same internet.org iniative.

當扎克伯格第一次分享他對於Aquila的野心時，他說這只是互聯網網站的一部分。