Photo with Christopher Powers Credit: Christopher Powers TL;DRDuring Hurricane Helene, 74% of cell sites in the FCC’s North Carolina reporting area went down, with 622 out from power problems vs. 7 from physical damage. The LA wildfires brought similar dependencies. StellarLight founder Christopher Powers is pursuing a hybrid device combining satellite, cellular, and WiFi with AI-driven switching. He sees energy independence as equally important to connectivity and acknowledges privacy and affordability as key barriers.
A communication outage can complicate the decisions people need to make during a disaster. On September 28, 2024, the Federal Communications Commission reported that 74.31% of cell sites in its Hurricane Helene reporting area in North Carolina were out of service. The figure captured a substantial disruption, although the agency cautioned that cell-site outages do not directly measure consumers’ ability to obtain service. The same report showed why restoring communication involves more than repairing damaged equipment.
In that North Carolina reporting area, 622 sites were listed as out because of power problems, compared with seven because of physical damage. Those findings highlight the importance of considering electricity supplies alongside the networks they support. Satellite connections formed part of the response. On September 30, Reuters reported that FEMA had made 40 satellite systems available in North Carolina to support responder communications, with another 140 being shipped.
The deployment offered a practical example of supplementing disrupted infrastructure while restoration work continued. The January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires brought similar dependencies into view. The Verge reported that carriers were deploying portable generators and emergency resources to sustain service. Together, these responses raise a broader planning question about how communication can remain available when the infrastructure supporting it is under strain.
Christopher Powers, founder of StellarLight, believes that question should inform how future devices and networks are designed. Through his early-stage venture, he is pursuing a concept combining satellite, cellular, and Wi-Fi connectivity. His argument centers on giving people more available routes to communicate, with software helping determine which connection could serve them. He places particular emphasis on the uncertainty that follows an outage.
In his view, checking on loved ones, contacting hospitals, and receiving information about changing conditions are among the needs that communication planning should address. He hopes more integrated technology could reduce the effort required to find a working connection during those moments. “Reliable satellite connectivity is under-realised,” Powers explains. He also recognizes that buildings and terrain can complicate access. His proposed hybrid approach would retain multiple connection options, allowing the system to respond to its surroundings rather than requiring users to assume that one network will always be available.
Making that transition useful is a substantial engineering challenge, he acknowledges. Powers wants hardware and software to coordinate changes among satellite, cellular, and Wi-Fi according to availability and suitability. The intended benefit, in his assessment, would be a more reliable experience, delivered by seamless switching between terrestrial and orbital networks. His perspective also extends to power.
He sees greater energy independence as a potential contributor to communication resilience, especially when local electricity supplies are interrupted. That remains a current development objective for Powers and his team. For Powers, the broader principle is that better connection options and increased energy independence will be the next generation of technology. Artificial intelligence could play a coordinating role within that vision.
He believes software might use information about a person’s circumstances and surroundings to help select an appropriate communication pathway. He sees potential applications across defence, emergency response, and civilian use while recognizing that different situations would place different demands on the system. That proposed responsiveness introduces questions about personal information. Powers acknowledges that collecting data to support more adaptive functions could make prospective users uncomfortable. “I think one of the things that will make or break the device is the privacy issues,” he cautions.
He considers acceptance of that approach an important challenge alongside the engineering work. Affordability could also affect access, he anticipates. Advanced components may make the device costly. His broader ambition includes reaching remote populations and people who find existing technology difficult to use.
From his perspective, a useful communication system would need to account for those practical barriers as well as unique network requirements, such as differentiating terrain. Powers’ argument ultimately centres on the acknowledgement that existing infrastructures remain outdated and perpetually slow to innovate. He believes closer coordination among network providers, energy independence, could fundamentally redefine global technology standards. The ambition is to make reaching assistance or receiving information more intelligent and responsive so users don’t need to navigate technical choices themselves.
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