e Data's system works with an array of existing wireless devices, including cell phones, pagers, and handheld computers. Telephone carriers will be able to offer service to rural customers with a cost structure previously not possible with conventional tower-based infrastructure. The Space Data network will also help wireless service providers improve customer service by increasing their coverage. "By filling in all the coverage gaps, we can provide service everywhere," says Knoblach. The company plans to bring cell phone service to remote locations-such as Indian tribal lands- for approximately the same price customers currently pay for cell phone service in places like Phoenix and Tucson. "The cost we're targeting is really the same kind of cost that you pay per month now," explains Knoblach. Although initially costs would be a bit more expensive, as they ramp up, Space Data expects costs to drop closer to rates paid by urban customers. Knoblach believes that his company is entering a wide-open market. Space Data's primary competitors-cell phone tower operators-face the huge financial burden of building sites in isolated locations that may receive only a SOMETHING IN THE AIR-RADIO AND LOCATION TECHNOLOGIES few phone calls per month. The company's only other competitors, satellite service providers, have their own problems. "They've largely gone bankrupt," notes Knoblach. "Although their satellites are installed, they're aging and getting close to the end of life. They haven't got a big enough business to actu- ally fund the new system to replace them." The idea of developing a balloon that functions as a communications satel- lite captured Knoblach's imagination in the mid-1990s. In 1996, Knoblach joined together with Eric Frische, a scientist he met while studying as an under- graduate at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The duo began the venture by laying down the project's technical groundwork. By May 2000, Knoblach and Frische were ready to hire a staff and begin flight testing. "We've been in the