One of the most common concerns about bitcoin is that if the internet goes down for any reason, there's no more bitcoin. If any government censors or disables the internet, they can effectively block their citizens from running a bitcoin core node and transacting bitcoin. This is not true.
On August 15, 2017, the visionaries at Blockstream launched Bitcoin Satellite. The satellite network beams the bitcoin blockchain to Earth, enabling those with expensive data internet and those with no internet at all (about half the population) to run a full bitcoin core node.
The one-time setup fee? The necessary hardware and software costs about $100 and is readily available. After that, running the bitcoin core node is free.
Here's how it works.
Ground stations known as "teleports" beam the bitcoin blockchain to geosynchronous satellites. The satellites act as repeaters, and beam the blockchain back to earth, to be picked up by whoever wants to run a node. Teleports also receive blocks from other teleports, ensuring that they do not become partitioned.
The final vision is to cover the entire landmass on Earth, with the exception of small portions of Antarctica. Phase 1 has been implemented, and covers North and South America, Europe and Africa. 2 more phases will follow, to complete the mission.
Right now the satellite network is limited to running a full core node, but you can still transact via SMS or 2-way satellites, which, at about 250 bytes, cost about one US penny per transaction. So you can connect your light wallet to your core node and transact with SMS or 2-way satellites for about a penny.
How to setup a bitcoin satellite receiver.