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SpaceX projected 20M Starlink users by 2022–it ended up with 1M

3 points by carride 3y ago

mikece 3y ago
But they are getting paid millions by the DoD to give internet access to Ukrainian forces.
- LinuxBender 3y ago
  In fairness the US Army was supposed to be their first big customer IIRC [1] so I guess Ukraine was a good test-run to work out the kinks. [1] - https://spacenews.com/u-s-army-signs-deal-with-spacex-to-assess-starlink-broadband/ https://spacenews.com/u-s-army-signs-deal-with-spacex-to-ass...
  - stephenr 3y ago
    I wonder how long they'd remain a customer if Musk decided to arbitrarily deny access to the network in certain areas, that just happen to be under military control of dictators singing his praises?
    - LinuxBender 3y ago
      I wonder how long they'd remain a customer Probably not very long assuming it was just impacting a training exercise. If it impacted real combat I would expect things to bubble up to a 4 star, then to the commander-and-chief, then a call to Elon explaining how all his companies public or private would be seized under eminent domain if it was not turned back on 5 minutes ago. Reflecting back on WWII and steel mills, etc...
    - mikece 3y ago
      You mean: why would Elon disallow Ukrainian forces to use Starlink while making attacks into Russia when the US Department of Defense is paying him to give connectivity to Ukraine... and that could be construed as direct military support to Ukraine in making attacks into Russia? He probably disallows it because the US DoD demands it under pain of not being reimbursed at all for Ukrainian comms support.
      - stephenr 3y ago
        > into Russia Your bias is showing. Only Russians and apologists for Putin consider Crimea to be "Russia".
- cheaprentalyeti 3y ago
  They are now. For the first year or so of the war Elon was providing the service free of charge. The contract from DoD to support Ukraine apparently only dates to June 2 2023 [0]. Quoting: "Back in February, it emerged that Starlink had taken unidentified steps to prevent Ukrainian forces from using its satellite service for what the company regarded as unacceptable purposes, such as to remotely control drones. At the time, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell said that Starlink was never meant to be weaponized, but claimed that 'Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement.' This may have had something to do with Russia issuing a warning to the United Nations that commercial satellite systems like Starlink risked becoming legitimate military targets by allowing their services to be used in warzones." That's from the Register. There was another article at Defensescoop [1] that had discussion on hacker news here. [2] [0]: https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/02/starlink_ukraine_defense_contract/ https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/02/starlink_ukraine_defe... [1]: https://defensescoop.com/2023/06/01/pentagon-contracting-with-spacexs-starlink-to-provide-satellite-communication-capabilities-for-ukraine/ https://defensescoop.com/2023/06/01/pentagon-contracting-wit... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36185291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36185291

3 points by carride 3y ago

mikece 3y ago

But they are getting paid millions by the DoD to give internet access to Ukrainian forces.

LinuxBender 3y ago
In fairness the US Army was supposed to be their first big customer IIRC [1] so I guess Ukraine was a good test-run to work out the kinks. [1] - https://spacenews.com/u-s-army-signs-deal-with-spacex-to-assess-starlink-broadband/ https://spacenews.com/u-s-army-signs-deal-with-spacex-to-ass...
- stephenr 3y ago
  I wonder how long they'd remain a customer if Musk decided to arbitrarily deny access to the network in certain areas, that just happen to be under military control of dictators singing his praises?
  - LinuxBender 3y ago
    I wonder how long they'd remain a customer Probably not very long assuming it was just impacting a training exercise. If it impacted real combat I would expect things to bubble up to a 4 star, then to the commander-and-chief, then a call to Elon explaining how all his companies public or private would be seized under eminent domain if it was not turned back on 5 minutes ago. Reflecting back on WWII and steel mills, etc...
  - mikece 3y ago
    You mean: why would Elon disallow Ukrainian forces to use Starlink while making attacks into Russia when the US Department of Defense is paying him to give connectivity to Ukraine... and that could be construed as direct military support to Ukraine in making attacks into Russia? He probably disallows it because the US DoD demands it under pain of not being reimbursed at all for Ukrainian comms support.
    - stephenr 3y ago
      > into Russia Your bias is showing. Only Russians and apologists for Putin consider Crimea to be "Russia".
cheaprentalyeti 3y ago
They are now. For the first year or so of the war Elon was providing the service free of charge. The contract from DoD to support Ukraine apparently only dates to June 2 2023 [0]. Quoting: "Back in February, it emerged that Starlink had taken unidentified steps to prevent Ukrainian forces from using its satellite service for what the company regarded as unacceptable purposes, such as to remotely control drones. At the time, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell said that Starlink was never meant to be weaponized, but claimed that 'Ukrainians have leveraged it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement.' This may have had something to do with Russia issuing a warning to the United Nations that commercial satellite systems like Starlink risked becoming legitimate military targets by allowing their services to be used in warzones." That's from the Register. There was another article at Defensescoop [1] that had discussion on hacker news here. [2] [0]: https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/02/starlink_ukraine_defense_contract/ https://www.theregister.com/2023/06/02/starlink_ukraine_defe... [1]: https://defensescoop.com/2023/06/01/pentagon-contracting-with-spacexs-starlink-to-provide-satellite-communication-capabilities-for-ukraine/ https://defensescoop.com/2023/06/01/pentagon-contracting-wit... [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36185291 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36185291