What you are describing as 'offline mining' is no better than putting a note in a bottle, tossing it in the ocean and waiting for someone to pick it up, read it and then replying with another note in a bottle.
At least with DBS links there is no blocking possible by a gov simply pulling the plug although latency will certainly be an issue.
I do understand that mining requires node to communicate. I am talking about communication without internet, not "absence" of a communication link. I used the word "offline" at the end referring specifically to internet being down, though I understand the confusion and edited that part. What a goTenna can indeed be compared to "tossing [transactions] in the ocean", but that isn't the topic.
I doubt that governments can't shut that down DBS (Direct Broadcast Satellite). That would mean that they also can't force BlockStream to stop feeding data to the satellite. And being centralized, BlockStream itself can decide to stop broadcasting. But as I said, it is indeed a very good tool that can provide for the inbound part of the communication.
I believe that the operator of a big mining farm would happily use communication channels with a few seconds latency over being completely disconnected and have their hardware sitting idle.
A miner (especially a solo miner) does NOT NEED low latency. In fact, Bitcoin and Proof-of-Work are DESIGNED for high latency and low throughput. Lower latency if is financially preferable for miners and reduce the likelihood of stale blocks, but is in no way a requirement for the network to be healthy and fully operational.
Does anyone know if the BlockStream (or any) satellite can receive blocks or transactions? (other than the company itself, of course)