Press Release 2024
Eugene, OR, April 1, 2024/PN Newswire — Several satellite companies have, in recent years, demonstrated the ability to serve legacy mobile phones directly from space, and have begun launching large constellations of satellites, some with exceptionally large cross sectional areas, with the aim of providing mobile phone service to underserved regions. As some of these satellites unfurl their large antenna and solar arrays next week, expect to see an eclipse of the sun on Monday, April 8, 2024..
Having demonstrated that a satellite in low earth orbit can have the same link budget as a terrestrial base station has through trees and buildings and similar obstructing clutter, the Federal Communications Commission has now proposed new rules to permit Supplemental Coverage from Space (SCS). This will permit satellite companies to offer Sat2Mobile services (presumably through your existing mobile operators) when customers require supplemental coverage such as at sea, on remote islands, in mountainous and generally remote areas or just areas that don’t economically justify a fixed cell tower. Several satellite companies joined in the Sat2Mobile effort including Globalstar with Apple, Starlink with T-Mobile and now ASK Mobile with their plans for an immense antenna array of more than 450 square meters.
ASK Mobile plans to unfurl their antenna array (with a solar array on the reverse side) on Monday April 8, 2024 which will cast a shadow over their mid-Texas headquarters at 1:30 CDT and move northeast over the US and Canada for a 2 hour demonstration of their power.
While not ASK Mobile’s intention, this ability to shadow the sun, was something envisioned as early as 1923 by the physicist Hermann Oberth (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_sunshade). With sunshades or mirrors placed in space as a way of changing illumination and temperature on earth. A variety of climate researchers have, more recently, proposed such sunshades be deployed to compensate for global climate change. These proposals call for large numbers of satellites each with mirrors or lenses to direct solar radiation away from the earth.
Notably, Starlink currently has over 5,442 satellites in operation, and ASK Mobile plans a constellation of hundreds of their very large satellites, others have plans for 5,000 new satellites. With these satellites deploying large antenna and panels of solar arrays, these fleets of Sat2Phone satellites will have the unintended benefit of shading the earth, helping to maintain a cooler climate and addressing the immediate concerns of global warming.
So get your solar eclipse sunglasses and look up at the sky on Monday April 8, 2024 around 1:30 CDT. Spectrum Financial Consulting, LLC sunglasses go on sale today, April 1, 2024, to help fools everywhere be reminded that the future is so bright it needs sunglasses, particularly on this April Fools’ Day.
About Spectrum Financial Consulting,
Spectrum Financial Consulting, LLC and principal Stephen Wilkus have been distributing April Fools’ Day press releases such as this since 2010 (archived here), poking fun at wireless hype and sharing a few observations about the issues of the times. Spectrum Financial Consulting celebrates the progress and utility of wireless and satellite technology and hopes that you enjoy our April Fools’ Day humor highlighting (and comically extrapolating) that progress.
While the developments of Lynk, AST Space Mobile and Starlink are impressively real, ASK Mobile is fictional and an array of 450 square meters at 500 km altitude will not eclipse the sun, it will barely cover 0.0026% of the sun and reducing the solar load by the infinitesimal fraction of 3.5 10^-12. (https://science.nasa.gov/earth/climate-change/what-is-the-suns-role-in-climate-change/) It’s also interesting to note that the satellites themselves will retransmit power, either as infrared from the hot electronics or as RF energy specifically directed at the earth both of which will heat the earth with some level of efficiency (See Olber’s Paradox). But thanks to the moon, we are truthful about a solar eclipse on Monday April 8, 2024 over North America https://science.nasa.gov/eclipses/future-eclipses/eclipse-2024/where-when/ Be sure to wear eye protection if you try to observe it!
###