Despite years of bullish forecasts and expectations built up over the last few years, satellite Internet of Things (IoT) in 2026 is still far from the transition from promise to commercial maturity. The industry is no longer dominated by marketing-induced visions of fleets of inexpensive CubeSats connecting billions of sensors across the planet. Instead, the reality is a steadily growing market for critical communications served by a handful of incumbent players. Facts speak for themselves. Around 80% of today’s market remains in the hands of incumbent mobile satellite operators such as Viasat/Inmarsat, Iridium, ORBCOMM, and Globalstar.

by Aishwary Pachauri

For decades, government space budgets were viewed mainly through civil ambition: lunar and Mars missions, Earth observation, human spaceflight, science, and national prestige. Agencies such as NASA, ESA, JAXA, ISRO, Roscosmos, and CNSA shaped this public narrative. That story still matters, but it no longer captures the full picture. Between 2021 and 2026, military space organizations became some of the fastest-growing budget centers in the global space economy.