Tag: starlink

Musk to provide Starlink access to Gaza

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has said that he will provide satellite internet access to “internationally recognized aid organizations” in Gaza via his Starlink network. Phone and internet lines went down in the enclave after a heavy Israeli bombardment on Friday.

Musk made his announcement on X (formerly Twitter) on Saturday, stating that SpaceX’s Starlink division would “support connectivity” with the besieged strip.

There are apparently a number of Starlink terminals in Gaza, but in a separate post on Saturday, Musk said that none of these devices had attempted to communicate with the satellite network. “It is not clear who has authority for ground links in Gaza, but do we know that no terminal has requested a connection in that area,” he wrote on X.

Internet and cell phone services stopped working in Gaza on Friday night after a wave of Israeli airstrikes. Gaza’s largest telecommunications operator, Paltel, announced that its infrastructure had been totally destroyed in the bombing, which preceded the deployment of Israeli ground troops to the enclave.

Keep reading

You’re Not Supporting Ukraine Enough Until the Nuclear Blast Hits Your Face

What happened to Elon Musk this past week showcases how completely unhinged and dangerous U.S. policy to Ukraine has become. The condemnation began when the Washington Post published excerpts from a new biography on Musk revealing that he turned down a Ukrainian request to help launch a major sneak attack in September 2022 on the Crimean port of Sevastopol. There were numerous, legitimate reasons why Musk refused to activate his Starlink internet services for Ukraine to carry out the unprecedented, surprise attack on Russian naval vessels: Musk was providing terminals to Ukraine for free; he was not on a military contract at that time; the late-night request came directly from the Ukrainian—not American—government; and Starlink had never been activated over Crimea because of U.S. sanctions on Russia. Most importantly, Musk was concerned that enabling the attack could result in serious “conflict escalation.” He worried that he was being asked to turn on Starlink for a “Pearl Harbor like attack” and had no wish to “proactively take part in a major act of war,” possibly provoking a Russian nuclear response.

In response to this nuclear aversion, Musk was called “evil” by a high-level Ukrainian official and “traitor” by American war enthusiasts. Rachel Maddow on the Russia conspiracy network MSNBC said Musk was “intervening to try to stop Ukraine from winning the war.” Not to be outdone, CNN‘s Jake Tapper described Elon as a “capricious billionaire” who “sabotaged a military operation by Ukraine, a U.S. ally,” an act that demands “repercussions.” For his part, chief Iraq war salesman-turned-Democrat-darling, David Frum, said that Musk must be stripped of his U.S. government contracts for not reflexively acceding to the Ukrainian Starlink request, and former “progressive,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, called for an immediate Congressional investigation “to ensure foreign policy is conducted by the government and not by one billionaire.”

Keep reading

Musk ordered shutdown of Starlink in Crimea 

Elon Musk personally intervened to stop a Ukrainian attack on Crimea last year due to fears of a nuclear war, CNN reported on Thursday, quoting an excerpt from the upcoming biography of the SpaceX and Tesla founder.

As Ukrainian drones approached the Crimean coast, they “lost connectivity and washed ashore harmlessly,” according to the book by Walter Isaacson, scheduled to be published next week. 

Musk had secretly ordered SpaceX engineers to shut off the Starlink signal near Crimea, according to this account, concerned that Russia might use nuclear weapons in reaction to what he described as a “mini-Pearl Harbor.”

Keep reading

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Developing Military Version Of Starlink Satellites

Elon Musk’s SpaceX has announced that it would expand its Starlink satellite system into the military sphere with a new national security line called Starshield.

The new program, unveiled on Dec. 2, will build on its launch and satellite communications technology and provide additional capabilities to provide a secured satellite network for government entities.

“Starlink is designed for consumer & commercial use, Starshield is designed for gov use, with focus on three areas: Earth Observation, Communications, Hosted Payloads,” said Sawyer Merritt, a Tesla investor, and analyst in a tweet.

The “hosted payloads,” system allows users to utilize a satellite bus, which is the body of the spacecraft, as a flexible platform.

The most likely customers of Starshield would appear to be the U.S. military and intelligence community, which have already invested heavily into SpaceX’s satellite technology, with key stakes in the Starlink system.

“While Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use, Starshield is designed for government use,” wrote the company on its website.

“SpaceX’s ongoing work with the Department of Defense and other partners demonstrates our ability to provide in-space and on-ground capability at scale.”

The Ukrainian military relied heavily on Starlink’s constellation network of more than 3,200 communication satellites, which provides broadband internet access, but Musk attempted to terminate funding for Kyiv’s use of the Starlink system in October.

However, he later reversed course after the U.S. Department of Defense offered to negotiate to pick up the tab for the effort and partially due to online threats by Ukrainian officials, reported Defense News.

Keep reading

Starlink Satellites Launch Sparks Fears of ‘Alien Invasion’ on US West Coast, Media Says

This week’s SpaceX launch puts the total number of Starlink satellites orbiting Earth at over one thousand.

A recent SpaceX launch has apparently caused quite a commotion in Los Angeles when the rocket’s payload reached orbit and became visible to those on the ground.

According to TMZ, the ensuing spectacle, which appeared as “string of lights moving across the sky in unison”, left many onlookers in LA puzzled and somewhat uncertain about what exactly they were witnessing.

As the media outlet points out, however, the objects spotted in the sky were no UFOs but rather the result of a Falcon 9 rocket delivering some 60 Starlink satellites in orbit earlier this week, with the total number of these satellites circling our planet now exceeding 1,000.

Keep reading