The decades-old satellite industry is setting its sights on a target that until lately looked unreachable: the everyday smartphone.
Better technology has convinced a who’s-who of aerospace stalwarts—plus some startups barely a few years old—to develop satellite networks that can talk to smartphones and other small gadgets on the ground. Among their most ambitious long-term goals, which some industry executives call far-fetched, is a fifth-generation mobile internet connection that glides seamlessly between cellphone towers near civilization and satellite beams out in the sticks.
Apple Inc.
made a down payment on that dream in September when it unveiled Emergency SOS via satellite, an iPhone feature that can send distress signals from anywhere in the U.S. and Canada. Apple agreed to pay satellite company
Globalstar Inc.
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