Well, this is either a very elaborate (and slightly early) April Fool's
joke, or a true story.
I'm voting for the latter.
Here are some more references, on serious enough sites that this is beyond a
hoax
Raytheon, one of their "technologies partners"
http://www.raytheon.com/press/1998/sep/halolite.html
A cellular communications company in South Africa
http://www.cellular.co.za/halo.htm
A US government department
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/Connections/1999/july/leo.htm
The Internet Society
http://www.isoc.org/isoc/conferences/inet/99/proceedings/4d/4d_3.htm
and their own web site
http://www.angelcorp.com/
On a related topic, I have heard that one company plans to use
helium/hydrogen balloons with solar powered maneouvering motors and
communications equipment payloads weighing up to 50 tons to do a similar
thing. The advantage over the powered aircraft in the HALO concept is the
obvious need for no fossil fuel.
Mind you, the idea of a 50 ton balloon suddenly bursting or deflating and
dropping onto a metropolitan area doesn't particularly sound inviting if you
ask me ...
Cheers
Jason
----- Original Message -----
From: John Haunton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 20, 2001 12:28 PM
Subject: [aus-soaring] Gliding soon to your Net
>
> Is this for real (it is not quite April agfter all...)
>
>
> A glider pilot plans to provide high-speed Internet access using
> solar-powered, high-altitude manned aircraft built to cruise at 51,000
> feet.
>
> US firm Angel Technologies plans to beam high-speed Internet service to
> customers in large cities, who would receive it on small cone-shaped
> antennas.
>
> Pinning its hopes on what it views as a cheaper alternative for fast
> Internet service than its primary competitor, the satellite industry,
Angel
> plans to test its network next year and provide commercial service in 2003
> and has identified 200 cities worldwide as potential markets. In addition
> to the expense of acquiring three planes for each metropolitan area,
> Angel's plan involves using huge quantities of jet fuel, hiring two pilots
> for each plane and making three take-offs and landings a day for each city
> where its service is available.
>
> "We believe the appetite for bandwidth will continue to grow as it did for
> processing speed; that's why we're thinking so far outside the box," said
> Mr Marc Arnold, Angel's 43-year-old founder.
>
> The New York Times
>
>
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