Some one probably thought about that for a few minutes and ran some numbers and tests BEFORE they paid to lunch satellites in to space, don’t you think?
Nope. But I'm extremely interested in how that's possible. Remember, Elon starts with the question "does basic physics prevent this?" If the answer is yes he won't do it.
That explains most of his antics, basic physics doesn't prevent things like endorsing anti-semetic conspiracy theories or telling business partners to fuck themselves. One imagines he might benefit from asking more than that 1 question before doing something.
I'm kidding, of course. I don't think anyone actually believes elmu thinks about physics. He pays people to do that while he shitposts on the internet.
The really interesting question, given that it seems that ground to satellite communication using normal LTE modems is possible, is whether it's also possible to track the location of every cellphone in the country using the same technology.
Tracking cell phones is much easier than communicating with them. Don't need large constellation with big satellites to do that.
There was story on here recently, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38322966, about company that launched a constellation of small satellites. The US has lots of radio surveillance satellites that likely can track phones. Also, phone companies sell phone location data.
Line of site transmissions can go massively further than with even minor obstacles. While a different frequency amature radio operators easily contact the ISS on $30 5 watt handheld radios. If I recall Iridium phones are only a couple watts.
