// B Y J O H N B R A N D O N //12
T
HANKS TO GPS-ENABLED PHONES AND
watches, we take for granted that we can
easily navigate into (and out of ) any place
or situation. But it wasn’t until a foggy
day in 1985 when an investor and elec-
trical engineer named Ed Tuck piloted
a twin-engine Beechcraft Baron across
Northern California that the widespread potentialThe Original
Handheld GPS
Brought Us
Everything From
Safer Flights
to Faster Door-
Dash Deliveries
of an emerging tech began to become clear: What if
someone could harness the power of military global
positioning satellites (GPS) to enable everyone to
navigate the skies, waterways, and roads without
aerial maps or radar signals, Tuck wondered.
Same now as when they were first launched in
1978, the GPS satellites f lying 25,000 miles above
the earth send a signal at light speed, and a receiver
on the ground reports your relative position. In
1985, the U.S. had launched six satellites, which
it used primarily to guide missiles. At that time, a
few commercial navigation systems used them, but
the receivers were the size of pizza ovens and cost at
least $10,000. Tuck wanted something more por-
table—lighter, that ran off batteries, and crucially,
affordable. His dream product cost only $300.
To fulfill that vision, Tuck and the engineers he
recruited to form Magellan GPS would have to ▶ COURTESYNORBERT^ LAU