&gt;Perhaps deploy emergency connectivity faster than a satellite can be launched?<p>New Shepard points straight up for the entire duration of the burn (110 seconds), because the goal is to get the payload to just barely 100km and then land more or less in the same spot. Any object on this ballistic trajectory will fall down to Earth very quickly.<p>Project Loon is better for communications equipment - the balloons stay up for longer, they are closer to the ground (essential for low power applications), and they&#x27;re much cheaper to launch. <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;loon&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.google.com&#x2F;loon&#x2F;</a>