13 April 2005
A robot plane has been unveiled in California that could irrevocably alter the way broadband and mobile phone signals are transmitted.
Wisconsin-based communications company Sanswire revealed the 'Stratellite', an unmanned, hard-framed airship, yesterday.
The Stratellite is designed to transmit broadband and mobile phone signals over an immense area the size of Texas whilst flying 13 miles above the earth - significantly lower than a conventional satellite.
"We're shooting for satellite replacement at a lower cost," Leigh Coleman, president of Sanswire parent GlobeTel Communications, told Reuters.
The Stratellite is 245 feet long and harnesses solar energy. It costs ten times less than a satellite, at between US $25 million and $30 million.
GlobeTel has not yet received authorisation to fly the airship at the intended altitude, but should the Stratellite prove successful, GlobeTel believes it will render land-based mobile transmission towers obsolete.
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