ELON MUSK STARLINK IS USING UKRAINE?
Elon Musk has become a star attraction in faraway eastern Europe.
How is this possible?
And what role is he playing this time?
Or more precisely which of his numerous inventions is taking center stage in a global crisis.
The Starlink satellite system, developed by Elon Musk, is assisting an elite Ukrainian
drone squad in destroying Russian weaponry.
Yes, you heard right.
Why not stick around and see how a part-time billionaire and part-time Twitter influencer
is influencing a conflict.
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Ukraine's deputy prime minister Mykhailo Fedorov thanked Elon Musk, Space X CEO, for delivering
a lorry full of Starlink satellites to Ukraine.
It's unclear where they'll go, but the government is likely to employ them.
Internet access in Ukraine is now adequate, but if the situation worsens, it is projected
to decline.
In the meantime, businesses are scrambling to get their hands on the dishes as backups.
Mykhailo Fedorov requested Mr. Musk's assistance and tweeted a photo of the Starlink dishes
arriving.
When the war in Ukraine began, the country was endangered by Russian cyberattacks and
shelling, both of which had the capability of shutting down the Internet, forcing the
creation of a backup plan.
As a result, Mykhailo Fedorov, the country's digital transformation minister, sent Musk
a personal message begging him to help.
Musk answered just a few hours later: Starlink service is now active in Ukraine.
More terminals en route.
Even before Fedorov asked Musk for assistance, SpaceX was working on a solution to send Starlink
to Ukraine.
President and COO Gwynne Shotwell stated earlier this month at the California Institute of
Technology that the business has been working for several weeks to obtain regulatory authority
to allow the satellites to interact in Ukraine.
Fedorov's organization is striving to bring Starlink terminals to areas where Internet
service has been disrupted, he said.
In rare cases, the systems have been used to link people when the country's cellular
networks have been overburdened.
Fedorov stated that he had a brief text conversation with Musk and that the tech tycoon had a phone
chat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
There are several reservations about using the terminals.
According to analysts, Starlink signals, like all satellite communications during war, might
be utilized to locate the location of the antennae.
Ukraine has experienced Internet and power outages, but the Starlink technology can assist
the embattled country in maintaining some of its connectivity.
Drone teams have been able to operate in rural areas where Internet access is limited, but
it is also being utilized by Ukrainian people across the country.
According to reports, Ukraine possesses over 5,000 Starlink terminals, and the Ukrainian
government is working to bring those terminals to areas where the Internet has been shut
off.
The systems can connect people in areas when cellular networks are overburdened or disabled.
According to sources, the Starlink app, which is used to help set up the service, exceeded
98,000 installs last week throughout Ukraine's App Store and Google Play combined.
While Starlink is assisting Ukraine's efforts to target Russian tanks and keep residents
linked to the outside world, Musk has warned that Russia will target the satellite dishes.
"Important warning: Starlink is the only non-Russian communications system still working in some
parts of Ukraine, so the probability of being targeted is high.
Please use with caution, Musk tweeted Experts have cautioned that the gadgets could
reveal Ukrainians' whereabouts to Russian attackers, but this hasn't been an issue so
far, according to Fedorov.
The devices have typically been utilized in "densely inhabited locations where there would
be a large number of civilians regardless."
He claimed that Russian cyberattacks on the networks had not yet increased.
HOW DOES STARLINK WORK?
Starlink is a division of Musk's SpaceX.
To access the Internet via satellite in rural or isolated locations, the service employs
terminals that resemble TV dishes with antennas and are typically put on roofs.
When you plug in the dish or terminal, as it's formally known it will instantly connect
to the nearest Starlink satellite in the sky, which number in the thousands.
After that, the satellite interacts with the nearest ground station, or gateway, which
provides internet access.
These gateways can be found throughout the world, but they can't be too far away from
where an internet connection is needed.
Ukraine is fortunate in that it has a border crossing with Poland.
The internet connection is routed through the gateway, satellite, and terminal.
Users need to do nothing more than plug their router into their terminal, and the tech will
do the rest.
The latency has been a major issue with past incarnations of satellite internet, but because
Starlink's constellation of satellites is a novel technology that operates in low-Earth
orbit, the delay is measured in milliseconds rather than seconds.
This would normally come at a fee.
The dish will set you back $652 in the United States, including shipping, plus $117 every
month for the subscription.
No indication has been made that Ukrainians will be charged for the service.
The terminals require a clear view of the sky to function, and there is an app to assist
users in finding a suitable location for them.
Overhanging trees and other impediments are common concerns; however, in Ukraine, users
must consider their safety and how they may appear to Russian forces.
The speed they provide varies once they are set up, but one user who already had access
to a terminal tweeted on Monday that he had attained speeds of over 200 Mbps for a time.
The adoption of Starlink as a temporary method to keep residents and the government-connected
during an invasion, experts believe, is a crucial test of the relatively new technology
and might have far-reaching ramifications for the future of warfare.
The internet has evolved into a vital instrument for communication, information dissemination,
and even weapon power.
According to experts, internet interruptions can be caused by power failures or by fiber-optic
connections being damaged as a result of shelling.
Civilians and government officials are using the Starlink technology in places under attack
that have lost Internet access.
Starlink terminals have also been offered to assist the country's tech companies in
remaining online when forced to relocate due to the war.
According to the Times of London, a Ukrainian regiment is utilizing Starlink to connect
its drones attacking Russian forces.
ELON MUSK LITMUS TEST The Starlink experiment is a litmus test for
Musk.
Amid global crises, the world's richest man, valued at $232 billion according to the Bloomberg
Billionaires Index, has a history of resorting to Twitter for bombastic promises and proclamations.
Already this week, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has challenged Putin to a battle, saying that
if Putin is terrified, he will use only one hand.
He also assured Putin that he could bring a bear.
He has fallen short of other undertakings, such as creating ventilators for coronavirus
sufferers and assisting in the rescue of Thai youngsters trapped in a cave.
But, according to Ukrainian officials and several specialists, he has come through this
time.
Tesla staff in Europe are assembling systems to assist in the powering of Starlink in Ukraine,
and Fedorov claims that other European countries have sent Starlink equipment from their sources.
Musk reacted to a request for comment on his Starlink attempts and previous efforts by
asking The Washington Post to give his regards "to your puppets master Besos."
Of course, he's alluding to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, who owns The Washington Post.
Musk did not answer a follow-up inquiry about his cooperation with Starlink in Ukraine.
STARLINK CONCERN Nonetheless, analysts believe that even a
large Starlink network would not have enough power to keep an entire country online and
running at full speed.
However, if Internet services fail, the terminals can act as a solid backup.
Mykhailo Fedorov stated that he and his colleagues are in talks with other European politicians
and corporations about further satellite and cellular technologies that could help keep
Ukrainians online in the case of more widespread Internet outages.
According to data-monitoring firms, internet flows decreased on the first day of Russia's
invasion of Ukraine on February 24 and have yet to fully recover.
However, connectivity has been relatively robust since that first decline, with mostly
temporary, localized disruptions even during severe Russian shelling.
Because Starlink is still in its early stages, there is much to learn about how and if it
can be used in conflict zones, according to defense and space industry specialists.
Russians, like many others, have equipment capable of detecting, jamming, and sometimes
intercepting various types of transmissions.
In the region, Starlink isn't the only satellite internet provider.
Viasat, a commercial satellite internet company, said it suffered a "cyber-event" affecting
broadband services on February 24, the day Russia invaded.
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