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Here’s what’s happening between Musk and Ukraine on the Starlink satellites

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Here's what's happening between Musk and Ukraine on the Starlink satellites

Elon Musk warned the Pentagon: SpaceX cannot fund internet connection in Ukraine indefinitely via its Starlink constellation. Facts, numbers, controversies and insights

Glimpses of war between the American billionaire Musk and Ukraine?

On October 14, Elon Musk stated that SpaceX (his aerospace company) cannot finance the Starlink Internet service in Ukraine indefinitely. The externalization comes following the publication of the CNN report in which it is revealed that the company had asked the Pentagon to pay the donations.

According to CNN , SpaceX warned the US Department of Defense last month that it could soon be forced to suspend funding needed to operate the Starlink satellite system in Ukraine, unless it receives tens of millions of government financial support. dollars per month.

On Twitter, Musk explained that Starlink was spending nearly $ 20 million a month to maintain satellite services in Ukraine.

In the aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 26, Mykhailo Fedorov, Deputy Prime Minister of Ukraine, asked Musk on Twitter to send Starlink terminals to the country. Fedorov said broadband Internet service "keeps our cities connected and emergency services save lives" in the event of outages. Musk promptly accepted the request . In reality, the shipment of the terminals is not the result of the "pure charity" of the aerospace company. As the US government is helping SpaceX finance and ship the terminals to Ukraine.

But is it just a question of money for the Tesla and SpaceX boss? Musk's demands on the issue of support for the internet service in Ukraine come after he aroused the ire of many Ukrainians with his peace proposal posted on Twitter that included ceding some territories to Russia.

THE NOTICE OF SPACEX AT THE PENTAGON

In a letter obtained by the broadcaster CNN , the company founded by Elon Musk already last month communicated to the Pentagon that it can no longer finance the operation of the Starlink network in Ukraine as it has done so far. "We are no longer in a position to be able to continue donating satellites to Ukraine, or to finance the existing network for much longer," reads the letter sent to the Pentagon in September.

Therefore, SpaceX has asked the Defense Department to take over the cost coverage, which could reach $ 120 million by the end of the year.

STARLINK HAS GUARANTEED INTERNET CONNECTION IN UKRAINE

In recent months, Elon Musk's satellite internet connection system has been a fundamental tool for communication by the Ukrainian military during the war with Russia. So far, SpaceX has donated about 20,000 satellites of the Starlink network to the Ukrainian government.

In recent months, on Twitter, the Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, underlined that Musk 's was “a fundamental support for the infrastructures of Ukraine and for the reconstruction of the destroyed territories. Ukraine will remain connected no matter what happens ”. And the connection guaranteed by the Starlink satellite constellation also plays a military role .

BUT WHO PAYS?

Financing the systems would cost more than $ 120 million for the rest of the year, and the price could reach nearly $ 400 million for the next 12 months, according to SpaceX.

Musk said last week that "the operation cost SpaceX $ 80 million and will exceed $ 100 million by the end of the year."

“SpaceX is not asking for past expenses to be recovered, but neither can it fund the existing system indefinitely * and * send several thousand more terminals that have up to 100 times more data usage than typical households. This is unreasonable, ”Musk specified on Twitter.

WHAT USAID AND SPACEX HAVE DONE FOR UKRAINE

But in reality, SpaceX hasn't borne the cost on its own so far.

Last April, the US Agency for International Development (USAID) claimed that SpaceX donated 3,667 terminals and the same Internet service , while USAID bought the remaining 1,333 terminals. According to the USAid press release, the public-private partnership then sent 5,000 Starlink terminals to the country.

In particular, USAID spokeswoman Rebecca Chalif said that "the delivery of the Starlink terminals has been made possible by a number of stakeholders, whose combined contributions amount to $ 15 million and have facilitated procurement, international flights. , ground transport and the satellite Internet service of 5,000 terminals ”.

NOT ONLY THE US HAS FINANCED STARLINK TERMINALS

In fact, besides the US government, other countries have also contributed to the sending of Starlink terminals such as the UK and Poland. Poland is the largest single contributor and has paid nearly 9,000 terminals, which cost $ 1,500 and $ 2,500 for the two models sent to Ukraine, according to documents viewed by CNN .

Those governments also paid for a third of Internet connectivity while SpaceX funded the rest, making up the most expensive part of the bill, according to SpaceX's letter.

FINANCIAL ISSUE OR … POLITICAL?

Ukraine's Deputy Prime Minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, said this week that Starlink services have helped restore energy and communications infrastructure in critical areas after more than 100 Russian cruise missile attacks.

As Reuters points out, Musk has sparked widespread criticism from Ukrainians about his peace plan for the Russia-Ukraine war posted on Twitter. In particular, the boss of Tesla and SpaceX proposed: that Ukraine permanently cede the Crimea region to Russia; that new referendums be held under the auspices of the United Nations to determine the fate of the territory controlled by Russia and that Ukraine accepts neutrality.

CLUTCHES BETWEEN UKRAINE AND MUSK

But the path to peace illustrated by Musk has also infuriated the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy. And not only. Ukraine's Ambassador to Germany, Andrij Melnyk, responded earlier this month to Musk's declared peace plan by saying, "Fuck you is my very diplomatic response to you @elonmusk."

"We are just following his recommendation," Musk said Friday, responding to a tweet referencing the CNN report and Melnyk's comments.

However, SpaceX's request for financial support to the Pentagon precedes the Twitter debate.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/ecco-cosa-sta-succedendo-tra-musk-e-lucraina-sui-satelliti-starlink/ on Sat, 15 Oct 2022 06:09:33 +0000.