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‘The hell with it’: Musk says SpaceX will fund Starlink in Ukraine

7 points by Kaibeezy 4y ago

codingdave 4y ago
I'm admittedly ignorant of the operations of satellite-based internet... but are the costs not somewhat fixed no matter what country the satellites happen to be flying over? Is there really that much operational cost driven by what happens on the ground?
strangattractor 4y ago
How much is it really costing them? When the satellites fly overhead they either transmits data or not. The cost of operating the satellite is the same. There are data ingress and egress fees with peers. Maybe Elon is feeling a little tight on cash given given the recent spending spree on Twitter. Maybe that cash would have been better deployed to SpaceX give his claims that the company is facing bankruptcy. https://fortune.com/2021/11/30/elon-musk-spacex-bankruptcy-warning-raptor-engine/ https://fortune.com/2021/11/30/elon-musk-spacex-bankruptcy-w...
- clouddrover 4y ago
  The money is beside the point. Musk is an attention seeking narcissist. He proposed making Starlink available to Ukraine because he thought it would make him look good and provide a lot of free advertising. Musk then went on to advise Ukraine to submit to Russia for which he received Russia's praise: https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-loves-elon-musk-now https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-loves-elon-musk-now In response, Ukraine (correctly) told Musk to fuck off: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/zelenskiy-hits-back-as-elon-musk-sets-up-twitter-poll-on-annexed-areas https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/zelenskiy-hits... And then this talk of turning off Starlink access was Musk's petty retaliation. Musk admitted as much when he said, "We're just following his recommendation": https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1580819437824839681 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1580819437824839681 It's exactly the kind of temper tantrum you can expect when dealing with a personality like Musk's.
tomohawk 4y ago
Some of the other threads here talk about how there can't really be a cost here. Here is just one cost: Starlink is clearly in Putin's crosshairs. What does that mean? That means cyber attacks against Starlink infrastructure, anything connected to it, and most definitely against personnel. The kind of people Putin has will figure out who works at Starlink, who their family members are, etc. They will work any angle they can to achieve their goals. Defending against that is time consuming, costly, and distracting. So, there are direct costs as well as opportunity costs. Defense contractors are getting all kinds of money to replace older equipment we are giving to Ukraine. Why should Starlink work for free?
- Rapzid 4y ago
  They are a target given the nature of their service. How much more expensive is their defense due to this? Is it offset by their ability to marker as a proven secure satellite network? IDK. But charging 4,500 per terminal for "service" all of a sudden and airing this all over Twitter is now a good look. I hate to be this cynical but it may all just be publicity. Maybe musk didn't feel SpaceX was getting enough hero cred so he plays the victim so he can turn around and play the hero again but this time everyone is talking about it.

7 points by Kaibeezy 4y ago

I'm admittedly ignorant of the operations of satellite-based internet... but are the costs not somewhat fixed no matter what country the satellites happen to be flying over? Is there really that much operational cost driven by what happens on the ground?

strangattractor 4y ago

How much is it really costing them? When the satellites fly overhead they either transmits data or not. The cost of operating the satellite is the same. There are data ingress and egress fees with peers. Maybe Elon is feeling a little tight on cash given given the recent spending spree on Twitter. Maybe that cash would have been better deployed to SpaceX give his claims that the company is facing bankruptcy. https://fortune.com/2021/11/30/elon-musk-spacex-bankruptcy-warning-raptor-engine/ https://fortune.com/2021/11/30/elon-musk-spacex-bankruptcy-w...

clouddrover 4y ago
The money is beside the point. Musk is an attention seeking narcissist. He proposed making Starlink available to Ukraine because he thought it would make him look good and provide a lot of free advertising. Musk then went on to advise Ukraine to submit to Russia for which he received Russia's praise: https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-loves-elon-musk-now https://futurism.com/the-byte/russia-loves-elon-musk-now In response, Ukraine (correctly) told Musk to fuck off: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/zelenskiy-hits-back-as-elon-musk-sets-up-twitter-poll-on-annexed-areas https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/oct/04/zelenskiy-hits... And then this talk of turning off Starlink access was Musk's petty retaliation. Musk admitted as much when he said, "We're just following his recommendation": https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1580819437824839681 https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1580819437824839681 It's exactly the kind of temper tantrum you can expect when dealing with a personality like Musk's.

tomohawk 4y ago

Some of the other threads here talk about how there can't really be a cost here. Here is just one cost: Starlink is clearly in Putin's crosshairs. What does that mean? That means cyber attacks against Starlink infrastructure, anything connected to it, and most definitely against personnel. The kind of people Putin has will figure out who works at Starlink, who their family members are, etc. They will work any angle they can to achieve their goals. Defending against that is time consuming, costly, and distracting. So, there are direct costs as well as opportunity costs. Defense contractors are getting all kinds of money to replace older equipment we are giving to Ukraine. Why should Starlink work for free?

Rapzid 4y ago
They are a target given the nature of their service. How much more expensive is their defense due to this? Is it offset by their ability to marker as a proven secure satellite network? IDK. But charging 4,500 per terminal for "service" all of a sudden and airing this all over Twitter is now a good look. I hate to be this cynical but it may all just be publicity. Maybe musk didn't feel SpaceX was getting enough hero cred so he plays the victim so he can turn around and play the hero again but this time everyone is talking about it.