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My understanding from news reports a few months ago is that SpaceX literally asked the DoD to fund Ukraine's ongoing use of Starlink for war and they refused to

My understanding from news reports a few months ago is that SpaceX literally asked the DoD to fund Ukraine's ongoing use of Starlink for war and they refused to cover it. I don't know what the reasons were, but I'll bet SpaceX would let Ukraine do whatever it wants if the DoD was paying for it.

brutusurp 4y ago
Agree. SpaceX said their services are not free for SpaceX, and requested help in funding the effort. Is Bezos trying to get a foothold in the effort, to help fund launch of his 3K satellites? https://spacenews.com/amazon-planning-3236-satellite-constellation-for-internet-connectivity/ https://spacenews.com/amazon-planning-3236-satellite-constel...
- brutusurp 4y ago
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- brutusurp 4y ago
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zpeti 4y ago
Because how could a democrat white house possibly justify paying money to a Musk affiliated company? That’s how bad politics is now. If Musk were actually the asshole people made him out to be, he would have just pulled starlink until payment. He didn’t. No one seems to appreciate or even realise this on the musk hater side.
- kcplate 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - qsdf38100 4y ago
    You support Elon? It’s becoming obvious that he is on the Kremlin side nowadays. You can’t even pretend he’s both siding it anymore. He never criticizes Russia interests, and parrots the Kremlin discourse quite consistently. You need to recognize that supporting Musk in 2023 is supporting the Kremlin. Is that really what you want to support?
    - dougwalker42 4y ago
      [flagged]
    - kcplate 4y ago
      >You need to recognize that supporting Musk in 2023 is supporting the Kremlin. Is that really what you want to support? I support pragmatism, so if Elon does good things I can support him on those things and if he does bad things I can be critical there as well. I am also not morally bound by political partisanship. Also, FWIW, your comment is literally ridiculous considering that this whole thread is about SpaceX providing communication capabilities to Ukraine for free for the last year. That is obviously support that was contrary to Russia and without a doubt has been an instrumental component in helping Ukraine endure the Russian invasion.
      - qsdf38100 4y ago
        SpaceX didn’t provide communication capabilities for free. But ok. My comment is ridiculous? Sure, maybe, whatever, I couldn’t care less. But let me point out that your point is ridiculous as well. Even Hitler has done "good" things at some point in his life, right? How comes you don’t praise him for the highways or whatever? Elon is a disgusting piece of shit, as he has repeatedly proven so. Sure you can turn a blind eye and praise him for his "free support" of Ukraine, but 1. It’s false and 2. it doesn’t change the fact that he’s pushing fascism and is an apologist of the worst dictators. So make it look like I’m crazy and you’re wise, but deep inside we all know what we stand for. And by supporting him you don’t stand for anything good. Just saying.
        kcplate 4y ago
- dotnet00 4y ago
  I somewhat disagree in that the current administration has also been very open to paying SpaceX for all its other contracts, even buying more crew launches etc. Paying for Starlink got turned into a public spat and thus ended up drowned out by idiots.
  - alsodumb 4y ago
    I mean one could say the current admin is paying for all those SpaceX contracts only because there’s literally no alternative left - yup, after Vulcan 5 ending due to restrictions on engines import from Russia there’s literally no other heavy launch provider in continental United States. Same with crew launches in some way.
- thephyber 4y ago
  You have no idea if Musk is telling the truth. All of the stories in the news are based on Musk’s tweets and one unnamed DoD official. There’s no transparency, therefore no independent confirmation that the US / EU countries supporting Ukraine aren’t actually paying Space-X for Ukraine’s use of Starlink.
  - mlindner 4y ago
    https://spacenews.com/shotwell-ukraine-weaponized-starlink-in-war-against-russia/ https://spacenews.com/shotwell-ukraine-weaponized-starlink-i... > Shotwell told reporters she led efforts to get Pentagon funding for Starlink services in Ukraine. “I was the one that asked the Pentagon to fund this. It was not an Elon thing,” she said. “We stopped interacting with the Pentagon on the existing capability.”
- DonHopkins 4y ago
  Not as bad as the politics of a Banana Republican White House. Democrat is a noun. Democratic is an adjective. Go back to grammar school.
wyldfire 4y ago
Maybe the Pentagon is promising enough MAU that they think it should be free ;)
rasz 4y ago
Why would they ask for more money when half of the terminals in Ukraine are bought and paid for by Poland? One EU country is paying for half of it all.
- dotnet00 4y ago
  The terminals are the smallest part of the cost and an ever decreasing portion. The service and support is by far the biggest cost.
squarefoot 4y ago
> but I'll bet SpaceX would let Ukraine do whatever it wants if the DoD was paying for it. I don't think the cost is that significant for Musk, but surely if the DoD was paying for it, then that would shift enough responsibility away from SpaceX.
illiarian 4y ago
You mean: - the richest man on earth decided to be publicly magnanimous by providing a free service to Ukraine - more than half of the service is being paid through various funds anyway - same richest man on earth spends 44 billion to stroke his ego - complains that he no longer has the money to sustain operations because the cost (accroding to him) exceeds 100 million dollars (0.2% of what he spent on his ego) - the moment he hears that Pentagon will pay, but needs to organize the payment and figure out where it will come from... withdraws his complaints and strokes his ego again by saying he will keep providing service for free

brutusurp 4y ago

Agree. SpaceX said their services are not free for SpaceX, and requested help in funding the effort. Is Bezos trying to get a foothold in the effort, to help fund launch of his 3K satellites? https://spacenews.com/amazon-planning-3236-satellite-constellation-for-internet-connectivity/ https://spacenews.com/amazon-planning-3236-satellite-constel...

brutusurp 4y ago
[flagged]
brutusurp 4y ago
[flagged]

zpeti 4y ago

Because how could a democrat white house possibly justify paying money to a Musk affiliated company? That’s how bad politics is now. If Musk were actually the asshole people made him out to be, he would have just pulled starlink until payment. He didn’t. No one seems to appreciate or even realise this on the musk hater side.

kcplate 4y ago
[flagged]
- qsdf38100 4y ago
  You support Elon? It’s becoming obvious that he is on the Kremlin side nowadays. You can’t even pretend he’s both siding it anymore. He never criticizes Russia interests, and parrots the Kremlin discourse quite consistently. You need to recognize that supporting Musk in 2023 is supporting the Kremlin. Is that really what you want to support?
  - dougwalker42 4y ago
    [flagged]
  - kcplate 4y ago
    >You need to recognize that supporting Musk in 2023 is supporting the Kremlin. Is that really what you want to support? I support pragmatism, so if Elon does good things I can support him on those things and if he does bad things I can be critical there as well. I am also not morally bound by political partisanship. Also, FWIW, your comment is literally ridiculous considering that this whole thread is about SpaceX providing communication capabilities to Ukraine for free for the last year. That is obviously support that was contrary to Russia and without a doubt has been an instrumental component in helping Ukraine endure the Russian invasion.
    - qsdf38100 4y ago
      SpaceX didn’t provide communication capabilities for free. But ok. My comment is ridiculous? Sure, maybe, whatever, I couldn’t care less. But let me point out that your point is ridiculous as well. Even Hitler has done "good" things at some point in his life, right? How comes you don’t praise him for the highways or whatever? Elon is a disgusting piece of shit, as he has repeatedly proven so. Sure you can turn a blind eye and praise him for his "free support" of Ukraine, but 1. It’s false and 2. it doesn’t change the fact that he’s pushing fascism and is an apologist of the worst dictators. So make it look like I’m crazy and you’re wise, but deep inside we all know what we stand for. And by supporting him you don’t stand for anything good. Just saying.
      - kcplate 4y ago
dotnet00 4y ago
I somewhat disagree in that the current administration has also been very open to paying SpaceX for all its other contracts, even buying more crew launches etc. Paying for Starlink got turned into a public spat and thus ended up drowned out by idiots.
- alsodumb 4y ago
  I mean one could say the current admin is paying for all those SpaceX contracts only because there’s literally no alternative left - yup, after Vulcan 5 ending due to restrictions on engines import from Russia there’s literally no other heavy launch provider in continental United States. Same with crew launches in some way.
thephyber 4y ago
You have no idea if Musk is telling the truth. All of the stories in the news are based on Musk’s tweets and one unnamed DoD official. There’s no transparency, therefore no independent confirmation that the US / EU countries supporting Ukraine aren’t actually paying Space-X for Ukraine’s use of Starlink.
- mlindner 4y ago
  https://spacenews.com/shotwell-ukraine-weaponized-starlink-in-war-against-russia/ https://spacenews.com/shotwell-ukraine-weaponized-starlink-i... > Shotwell told reporters she led efforts to get Pentagon funding for Starlink services in Ukraine. “I was the one that asked the Pentagon to fund this. It was not an Elon thing,” she said. “We stopped interacting with the Pentagon on the existing capability.”
DonHopkins 4y ago
Not as bad as the politics of a Banana Republican White House. Democrat is a noun. Democratic is an adjective. Go back to grammar school.

wyldfire 4y ago

Maybe the Pentagon is promising enough MAU that they think it should be free ;)

rasz 4y ago

Why would they ask for more money when half of the terminals in Ukraine are bought and paid for by Poland? One EU country is paying for half of it all.

dotnet00 4y ago
The terminals are the smallest part of the cost and an ever decreasing portion. The service and support is by far the biggest cost.

squarefoot 4y ago

> but I'll bet SpaceX would let Ukraine do whatever it wants if the DoD was paying for it. I don't think the cost is that significant for Musk, but surely if the DoD was paying for it, then that would shift enough responsibility away from SpaceX.

illiarian 4y ago

You mean: - the richest man on earth decided to be publicly magnanimous by providing a free service to Ukraine - more than half of the service is being paid through various funds anyway - same richest man on earth spends 44 billion to stroke his ego - complains that he no longer has the money to sustain operations because the cost (accroding to him) exceeds 100 million dollars (0.2% of what he spent on his ego) - the moment he hears that Pentagon will pay, but needs to organize the payment and figure out where it will come from... withdraws his complaints and strokes his ego again by saying he will keep providing service for free