Ukraine Asks Musk for Starlink Terminals as Russian Invasion Disrupts Broadband :
SpaceX is sending Starlink user terminals to Ukraine after a request from a government official. Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine's vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation, used Twitter to make a direct plea to SpaceX CEO Elon Musk on Saturday, writing:
@elonmusk, while you try to colonize Mars—Russia try to occupy Ukraine! While your rockets successfully land from space—Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people! We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand.
About 10 hours later, Musk responded, "Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route." A bit later, Fedorov sent a tweet thanking Musk and another tweet thanking Ukraine's ambassador to the US, Oksana Markarova, "for swift decisions related to authorization and certification that allowed us to activate the Starlink in Ukraine."
[...] Update 4:12 pm EST: Fedorov confirmed in a new tweet today that Starlink terminals have arrived in Ukraine and included a photo of the terminals in the back of a truck:
Starlink — here. Thanks, @elonmusk pic.twitter.com/dZbaYqWYCf
— Mykhailo Fedorov (@FedorovMykhailo) February 28, 2022
Related Stories
Starlink Activated in Iran
Elon Musk activates Starlink for Iranian citizens after US Sec of State issued a General License
Elon Musk announced that he was activating Starlink in response to U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken's tweet announcing the issuing of a General License to provide the Iranian people with access to digital communications.
"We took action today to advance Internet freedom and the free flow of information for the Iranian people, issuing a General License to provide them greater access to digital communications to counter the Iranian government's censorship," Secretary Blinken said.
Currently, in Iran, massive protests are happening as a result of the death of 22-year-old Mahsa Amini, who was detained by the morality police for her head scarf not being properly worn. Although she had no known heart-related health problems, the police said she suddenly died of heart failure.
[...] Elon also responded, "OK," to @agusantonetti who asked if he could do the same for other countries under a dictatorship such as Cuba.
Has some entity been gathering Starlink terminals and smuggling them into Iran in the weeks or months prior to this announcement?
See also: U.S. Treasury Issues Iran General License D-2 to Increase Support for Internet Freedom
Musk says he will activate Starlink amid Iran protests
Starlink Benefit "Literally Zero" For Iranian Protestors Says Expert
Iran protests: UK and Norwegian ambassadors summoned over 'interference'
Previously: Starlink Will Ask for Exemption to Iran Sanctions, Says Musk
Related: Ukraine Asks Musk for Starlink Terminals as Russian Invasion Disrupts Broadband
Russia May Have Just Put Elon Musk's Starlink on Notice
(Score: 1, Flamebait) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday March 02 2022, @03:34AM (26 children)
If Musk delivers a hundred (or more) satellite links to Ukraine, quickly, his poo won't stink for a long time to come.
Which of the space race billionnaires is in such a sweet spot? Which of the military industrial corporations can even dream of providing such communications to Ukraine?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Wednesday March 02 2022, @04:01AM (25 children)
He would just be another billionaire on the right side of history I suppose (Soros and the Koch brothers having contributed to the current democratic Ukrainian government already). Looks like he already delivered [space.com] too on February 28. That photo could be anywhere or anything I suppose, but it looks like about the right size for 100 starlink receiver boxes.
I think it's interesting payback for the Russians who blocked [quora.com] Starlink from Russia and harassed [newsweek.com] SpaceX at the UN. I don't know how useful Starlink will be for warfare with a electronics and space warfare savvy foe like Russia, but it might help a lot if they can keep Starlink functioning in the Ukraine.
And this demonstrates the weakness of the MIC not just in the US, but everywhere else too. Nobody else in the world has this kind of tech - Russia, China, Europe, and India.
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @04:25AM (6 children)
Maybe I should remind you that the goofy looking kid is South African? I know, it might be hard to remember that, what with his pasty white face.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 02 2022, @04:31AM (3 children)
Actually, he has three citizenships: South Africa, Canada, and the US. And SpaceX is based in the US.
(Score: 0, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @05:05AM (2 children)
He was only born in one of those countries. Musk is an African.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 02 2022, @05:30AM
Doesn't sound like I care about that.
(Score: 1, Offtopic) by maxwell demon on Wednesday March 02 2022, @07:54AM
If he's from South Africa and white, he's most probably of European descend.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Wednesday March 02 2022, @09:14AM (1 child)
Musk is African American?
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @12:33PM
a Boer-Cannuck-Yankie. if you will.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @04:32AM (5 children)
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2022/feb/28/nato-expansion-war-russia-ukraine [theguardian.com]
https://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-follows-decades-of-warnings-that-nato-expansion-into-eastern-europe-could-provoke-russia-177999 [theconversation.com]
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday March 02 2022, @05:31AM (4 children)
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @06:01AM (2 children)
Exactly. NATO exists to curb Russian aggression in Europe. Had Russia settled down after the Cold War NATO would have become irrelevant and gradually died on the vine, but Putin strangled their budding democracy and returned them to their old autocratic ways. He wants to be an empire builder like Peter the Great and Stalin, and that is fundamentally incompatible with peace and prosperity. Compare to Germany, who learned their lesson and built their long sought European empire through peaceful means. Had Russia done the same nobody would have cause to complain and many of the countries currently turning on them, including much of the old Soviet Bloc, would have joined them willingly. Instead they have become a pariah and Putin's attempt at empire may very well end in civil war at the best and world war at the worst. The only winner is China.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 03 2022, @02:06AM (1 child)
Yeltsin strangled Russian democracy in the 1993 coup. Yet again, the west's alleged commitment to democracy got trumped by realpolitik.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday March 04 2022, @02:52AM
You keep selling that story, buddy. Someone will buy it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 03 2022, @05:41AM
Imagine being this retarded.
America: Hey all you Eastern Hemisphere countries, none of you are allowed to attempt to influence the politics of any nation in the Western Hemisphere.
Also America: Hey Russia, we're just gonna go ahead and expand NATO up to your border and load those countries up with all sorts of hardware which will reduce the effectiveness of your nuclear arsenal.
[shocked pikachu face when russia is not ok with this]
(Score: 0, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @06:34AM (2 children)
> Nobody else who constantly shills on social media to an ignorant audience has this kind of tech
Australia has its "Sky Muster" Satellite Broadband network. So, wrong.
(Score: 2, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @07:00AM
Sky Muster is a traditional GEO satellite service that only covers Australia and a few surrounding islands. It simply can't provide global communications like Starlink.
(Score: 1) by khallow on Friday March 04 2022, @03:00AM
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @07:25AM (6 children)
Yes and no. Global satellite communications isn't new, starting with IntelSat in the mid 1960's and followed by Inmarsat in 1999. Iridium, operational since 2002, was the first to use non-GEO orbits. All three of those systems are currently in service providing voice and low speed data globally to governments, militaries, and large corporations. Starlink takes the concept to its logical conclusion with VLEO birds, phased array antennas, and high speed data links, making it by far the most advanced and capable network, but it isn't the only player. Once OneWeb comes online it will also be able to offer this kind of service, being in between Iridium and Starlink in capability.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by pTamok on Wednesday March 02 2022, @12:41PM (5 children)
The upcoming OneWeb launch on Friday from Baikonur is dependent on a Soyuz launch vehicle. Oops.
BBC: OneWeb: Russian ultimatum over UK satellite launch [bbc.com]
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday March 02 2022, @02:46PM (1 child)
That is actually, extremely hilarious.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @08:11PM
Isn't it, though? The killer is that there is only one launch provider in the world with spare trampolines to take them. Three guesses as to who. XD
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @09:49PM (1 child)
I wonder if they'll even get those satellites back. Big fancy US made comms sats just sitting there begging to be taken apart and studied, especially with their US minders out of country.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @10:17PM
ESA's Mars rover is in a similar situation, but it also depends on a Russian built lander. Putin is holding it as a bargaining chip against the sanctions, but I don't think any hardware already at Baikonur is coming back, let alone intact.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 03 2022, @02:38AM
Russia is demanding a guarantee that OneWeb "not be used for military purposes" and that the UK sell its stake in the company.
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/03/russia-places-extraordinary-demands-on-oneweb-prior-to-satellite-launch/ [arstechnica.com]
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @07:38PM (1 child)
"He would just be another billionaire on the right side of history I suppose (Soros and the Koch brothers having contributed to the current democratic Ukrainian government already)."
Oh yeah. Soros, the International Jew just trying to help the Goyim. How naive are you?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Wednesday March 02 2022, @07:42PM
(Score: -1, Offtopic) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @04:16AM
butbut muh incels... and the musky cuddle puddle couch...
Or has the gender war been superseded by WW3? Or maybe it is revealed as the misandrist bullshit it was all along. The inability of feminism to defend abortion is as conspicuous as its eagerness to see men die for private profit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @04:22AM (12 children)
Impeding astronomy telescopes NOW?
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @04:29AM (9 children)
He's going to make a shit ton of money when all is said and done on this war profiteering.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @06:12AM (6 children)
How is this 'war profiteering'? He isn't overcharging* or selling weapons to both sides, and he didn't instigate the conflict.
*He likely isn't charging for this. He's done that before during the California wildfires and in Tonga.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @12:38PM (5 children)
Oh, yes, Muskie wouldn't do a thing like that! When this is all said and done, assuming there is an independent Ukraine still standing, I'm sure they will revoke the Starlink permissions back to where they were pre-war and all of the terminals will be returned. And the ones being shipped over will be sent back.
Do you doubt that he'll make a lot of money off of this when the dust settles, or do you agree with me but mod me down anyway because I dare taketh His name in vain?
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Wednesday March 02 2022, @02:54PM (2 children)
So, what you're saying is that he shouldn't do anything? Let the Ukraine rot, they just need to pull up their big boy pants? Seriously, just because Musk and Starlink stand to possibly gain from the situation, doesn't make the action horrible. I mean, unless you just hate Musk/Starlink and/or love Russia. Then, we can just ignore you. Elon Musk responded to a direct request for aid. Him turning on access and sending out more units, seems like a gesture in good faith.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @11:46PM (1 child)
I didn't say anything about whether he should or shouldn't do it. I'm just saying that he's going to prosper from this, probably very nicely. And it ain't like it is a dire financial burden on them, particularly given the upsides. By the way, all Zuckerberg wanted to do was to connect people, bring them together and bring cheap internet to Africa. All Microsoft wanted to do was connect people to give them better lives and give them free Windows computers. Just because you hate poor people or people off the grid and want to keep them stuck in poverty, I'm mean you be you and I can ignore you too. Don't know why you hate on those two so much when they're simply trying to make a better world like Musk.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 03 2022, @02:50AM
You accused him of 'war profiteering', which is a crime and therefore something he shouldn't do.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by khallow on Wednesday March 02 2022, @03:06PM
There's a lot of uncertainty with Starlink. It might not make money at all, even with hugs from the Ukraine.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @08:09PM
A fair price for a provided service isn't 'profiteering'.
Musk can be a twit sometimes but you can't say that his heart isn't in the right place.
I don't have mod points, so that couldn't have been me. So, just for you: -1 Troll.
(Score: 3, Disagree) by Nuke on Wednesday March 02 2022, @04:36PM (1 child)
In fact Starlink loses money. Musk was hoping it will take off with everyone in the world jumping on board. But most of the better-off parts of the world already have, or are installing, fibre, and the poorer parts of the world can't afford Musk's prices.
Musk was hoping to finance his megalomanic Mars colony project with income from Starlink, but it is not working out for him. Might as well dump the stuff on Ukraine now.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @08:36PM
Starlink is losing money because they are still in the build out phase, which will probably take another five years. It will probably take another five after that to finish paying for itself.
There are about 10 million households in the US alone that will never have fibre, at any price, and Starlink is competitive in those markets. There is no shortage of paying customers.
The biggest obstacle to profitability is the cost and availability of the user terminals, both of which improve with each new model. This donation is less than half a day's production.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @06:14AM
That hasn't gone away, it just isn't in the headlines for now. Expect it to start up again after the shooting stops.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @01:56PM
Totally gets a free pass for life. Starlink doesn't give the QOS promised? Ukraine! Bypassing regulatory barriers? But Ukraine! Defrauds investors by lying about acquisitions? But Ukraine!
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @04:37AM (3 children)
A few thousand 1:10 working scale models of your Falcon rocket. We think it's really cool, and want to show them to our friends the Russians.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @06:03AM
Ukraine prefers single use rockets for 'show and tell'. They don't want Russia sending them back to them.
(Score: 2) by PiMuNu on Wednesday March 02 2022, @01:19PM (1 child)
At the moment Ukraine has issues moving kit from Poland to Ukraine. A few drop pods might help.
Imagine the Berlin airlift crisis played out with Falcon 9s.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Blockade [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @05:13PM
Medium range ballistic *anything* is problematic though. Better to tough it out and clear the air space somehow. Interesting story--that fighter that landed in Romania wasn't a Ukranian deserter. It was having mechanical difficulty. They repaired it and escorted it back to Ukrainian air space, after removing the weapons. This is a convention of war time because if they had left the weapons on the plane it would be considered an act of war, and since Romania is in NATO that would be big trouble. Anything that even *looks* like NATO military action or a possible nuclear strike against Russia is a really bad idea. OTOH, they got their fighter back so Russians don't have air superiority over Ukraine! We might even be able to fly humanitarian aid shipments through contested air space with negotiations (possible gesture of good will during peace talks). I'm less certain on what the rules are regarding military cargo, but it seems like you can do that without it being considered an act of war because that's what the US did for the UK before entry. So I heard the Ukrainian jet's bombs and missiles will be shipped back separately from Romania. The whole idea of having rules for war is both strange and reassuring at the same time. Weird shit.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @06:26AM (1 child)
Militaries ignore ITU Radio Spectrum Band Plans.
The Russians have had their Shortwave jamming stations powered-up for a few weeks. Microwave propagation will be different-- but in a bad way. We can assume that Starlink doesn't have the same level of ASAT microwave shielding as spybirds.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @10:45PM
Maybe, maybe not, but if Russia starts ASATing US satellites then that is a direct act of war. They aren't going to go beyond interference and Starlink has tight enough beam control to make that challenging.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @02:02PM (12 children)
It still makes no sence how Putin thinks he can get away with this shit. He is insane. You just can't do this sort of thing in this day in age. In a single swoop, he has blasted Russia back to the stone-age, living by themselves in an isolated cave. The only way this could have been worse for him is if he had used a different "n" word other than "Nazi" when talking about Ukrainians.
And we were so afraid that it was going to be Trump who would press the button....
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @02:20PM
He's been reading from the Chinese Power Playbook? Mainlanders aren't even aware of what really happened at Tienanmen, and otherwise only know (and believe) an entirely fictitious account of what happened.
Power: Doing what you want, and less-powerful entities can just suck it.
Recall when Wikileaks/Assange released the Diplomatic Cables-- oh noes, all the US Governments' most embarrassing secretssss! ...but nothing changed, because the US had the Western World by the balls.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @05:49PM
The fuckwit thought it would take 2-3 days to take over Ukraine and present everybody with fait accompli and then we all accept the fact and mumble about some sanctions ala 2014 annexation of Crimea.
Well, the bitch miscalculated the resistance and it's gonna fry the bitches' ass.
(Score: 2) by DeathMonkey on Wednesday March 02 2022, @06:20PM
US intelligence is trying to answer that question right now!
US intel agencies are debating whether Putin has lost mental faculties or is bluffing to unnerve the West, report says [businessinsider.in]
‘I personally think he’s unhinged’: Analysts question Putin’s mental state after Ukraine invasion [bostonglobe.com]
(Score: 2) by EvilSS on Wednesday March 02 2022, @07:49PM
Simple: he has nukes. MAD has worked to keep us out of a direct nuclear conflict for over half a century, but now Putin is using the it to essentially hold the rest of the world hostage as he does whatever the fuck he likes. And yea, after listening to some of his addresses recently, I am starting to wonder if he's come unhinged. Hopefully the sanctions are enough to force his oligarch buddies to pull him down from the inside. After all, you have to keep your keys happy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rStL7niR7gs [youtube.com]
Without intervention he will eventually take the Ukraine. Then what? His buddy in Belarus already showed a map with plans for troops moving into Moldova. Georgia is probably nervous as hell right now and I sure would not want to be one of the 'stans at the moment either. But is he crazy enough to try for a EU or NATO country? One of the Baltics? Poland? And if he does, then what. I'm really worried he might think NATO won't actually start a war with nuclear potential over say Latvia or Estonia.
(Score: -1, Spam) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @07:49PM (1 child)
The Jews were already holding Russia back. Putin's backed into a corner. Western White countries need to forge an alliance with Russia and eastern bloc nations. The subversive Jews in every White nation will need to be purged, as well. Don't any of you civ-nats ever wonder why the US congress critters are always sabre rattling about Russia? It's the Jews. It's always the Jews. Just like WW2, the assassination of JFK, 9-11, etc.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @09:52PM
I don't know what you're smoking, but you might want to change dealers, cuz that's the bad sh*t.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @08:24PM (1 child)
Putin lives in a world of intimidation and submission. He is intimidating, and his underlings submit to him. He no doubt expects them to intimidate their own underlings. That is the way the world works for him. He can never be seen to be submissive, because then his entire regime would crumble.
I believe we are deep in a contingency plan. He believed the west would back down, and if they didn't, he would invade Ukraine. He believed the invasion of Ukraine would be quick and mostly bloodless, and if they weren't, he would bring out the big guns. He believed that the west would be slow and tenative in imposing sanctions, and if they weren't he had the cash reserves to weather them.
I think he didn't know he was bluffing, because his underlings never told him that it could come to this.
I am reminded that Sadam Hussein probably thought that he had WMDs, because he had ordered it to be done, and his underlings were too afraid to tell him that they failed.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @11:24PM
Assuming you speak of the first Gulf War, Saddam Hussein used most, if not all, of his sarin gas to murder Kurdish civilians before the war and Mossad made a point of killing his nuclear physicists. As for what he might have used during the war, assuming he still had any, most of his SCUDs were destroyed on the ground by airstrikes, their accuracy was terrible, Israel has very strict laws regarding bomb shelters and really did not want to get involved for exactly the reasons Saddam wanted them to, and the US provided gas masks, sarin antidote, and Patriot* missiles.
*Both governments had to know that the Patriot was completely useless as a defensive weapon, but having them worked wonders to reassure the population that something was being done.
The biggest difference is that Saddam was well prepared and won his invasion only to get curb-stomped by the US, while Putin didn't even tell his own front line solders there was a war on when invading an entrenched defender.
(Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday March 02 2022, @10:33PM
Jerusalem Post: $1 million bounty on Putin offered by Russian businessman
https://www.jpost.com/international/article-699098 [jpost.com]
I would like to see a more familiar news source with this, such as BBC.
And this . . .
Germans Seize Russian Billionaire Alisher Usmanov’s Mega-Yacht
I suppose they can use it for target practice.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/giacomotognini/2022/03/02/germans-seize-russian-billionaire-alisher-usmanovs-mega-yacht/?sh=126043de52dd [forbes.com]
To transfer files: right-click on file, pick Copy. Unplug mouse, plug mouse into other computer. Right-click, paste.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @10:56PM (2 children)
You must not keep up with the news much... Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria, Yemen... Where is the respect for sovereignty and human life?
(Score: 2, Informative) by khallow on Thursday March 03 2022, @04:52AM
Both Syria and Yemen were civil wars. Any threats to sovereignty were internal.
I wouldn't be surprised if Putin is trying to avoid the Russian version of that - with him on the losing side.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday March 03 2022, @04:14PM
At least with what the TV shows us - and they very well may be mis-informing everyone as usual - this looks a lot different. These others you mentioned generally looked like troops and fighting already going in some backwards, primitive, beat-up hellhole.
Those are a huge contrast to the images of Russians attacking a modern city that looks more modern and cleaner than many shit stained American cities (like downtown Atlanta - the area around the capital has basically been a war zone, overtaken by the homeless, for the last several years, and filled with graffiti covered dangerous looking worn out buildings.).
Even the people the TV show fleeing look more civilized than the pictures of towel-headed tattered-robed ak-47 toting sand dwellers they usually show. Hell, they look more civilized than the rednecks and blacks that shoot it out every day in Atlanta.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @03:10PM (1 child)
let's hope this saves lives and doesn't prolonge the war.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 02 2022, @11:27PM
I hope it helps Ukraine defend themselves from an unprovoked and completely unjustified invasion. Even if the price is payed in blood it is better than what Putin will do to them if he wins.