Elon Musk backs off. The SpaceX boss announced on Saturday that he would continue funding the Starlink internet network in Ukraine, returning to his calls from the previous day for the US government to take over.
Turn around
On Friday, Elon Musk warned that SpaceX “(could) continue to fund the existing system indefinitely and ship thousands of additional terminals… It’s not reasonable.”
SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon last month stating that it could no longer afford the costs of the service in Ukraine, CNN reported.
According to the TV channel, the company was asking the US Department of Defense to take over the funds for the use of Starlink by the Ukrainian government and its military, the cost of which was estimated at $400 million for the next 12 months.
Ukrainian infrastructure destroyed
Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, SpaceX has delivered thousands of terminals there that provide Internet connection through a constellation of satellites that make up the Starlink network.
Thus, to date some 25,000 terminals have been deployed in the country. Elon Musk assures that with the exception of a “small percentage”, all the costs of deployment and maintenance of Starlink terminals in Ukraine have been borne by SpaceX.
The Starlink network has helped maintain Internet coverage in areas of Ukraine affected by the Russian military. As of June, about 15% of Ukraine’s existing internet infrastructure had been destroyed or damaged, officials said.
Starlink is also widely used by the Ukrainian forces to calculate the trajectory of their missiles and geolocate their targets.
Source: BFM TV
