I mean it seems a common Marine with nothing more than an encrypted handset could call for evac, hire-support, etc., no fancy radios involved.
I think that’s why the license was upped from 7,000 to a mind-blowing 42,000 satellites...
It also greatly reduces the threat of anti-satellite weapons. If we are relying on only a few large comm satellites, they can be knocked out by a few weapons.
With 42,000 and internet architecture, even taking out 1000 will not seriously degrade the system.
Now imagine what happens if we intersperse some imaging satellites on the later ones. No where to hide.
Most people don’t realize that much of the Blackhawk Down agony was, weirdly, a SPACE problem:
The rescue convoy driving directions around Mogadishu were given in real-time by orbiting chopper, but owing to radio incompatibility had to go:
1. Mogadishu chopper
2. Couple other hops to...
3. Florida AFB
4. Couple other hops back to...
5. Mogadishu truck/humvee driver
This meant that EVERY turn direction arrived AFTER the convoy had passed where they needed to turn.
During a dire emergency.
With the whole city trying to kill them.
It was inevitable they would take 100 wrong turns, which they did.
Not only will THAT soon go away, but a remotedly piloted drone will be able to evade ground-fire, and I mean with rapid, erratic course corrections, all from that same controller on the other side of Earth.
Evvvveryone knows about remote piloting already, of course, and they long have. But mostly for spying on the strategic side.
This dramatically lowered latency means that this all gets mmuuuuuuuch more tactical, now.
This could even have very scary policing & political surveillance applications.
Interferometry: Combine synchronous images from widely separated observing positions to achieve superior resolution. Read the captions accompanying a cat video, as displayed on a smart phone viewed from low orbit!