5 ms·

Musk ordered shutdown of Starlink satellite service as Ukraine retook territory

51 points by jaredwiener 1y ago

Kapura 1y ago
it is fucking crazy that we allow gigantic service operators to move with the freedom of an IRC op. starting to think that maybe elon musk is not a good person!
- throwaway_9000 1y ago
  Or was probably recruited by Russia's intelligence when (in)famously trying to purchase Russian ICBMs to create a greenhouse photo-op on Mars.
  - ben_w 1y ago
    I'm sure they (and many others) have tried recruiting him at multiple points, but if the Russians had wanted to recruit him back then, they'd have sold him a launch rather than laughing in his face, and consequently SpaceX likely wouldn't have happened at all.
    - consumer451 1y ago
      As a previously huge Musk fanboy, I must admit that I was trying to grasp at straws at the point of TFA, and many other points prior. At one time, I thought maybe Musk's brain was a victim of some microwave brain->mush weapon or something. Then, I thought it was all about when he went from not realizing his gains to getting the biggest single pay day in history, and having to write a multi-billion dollar tax check that fried his brain. In the most recent years, I thought that he flipped personalities, and somehow became an easily influenced person for some reason [0], who might believe things that a person like Sacks tells him. When he gave a Nazi salute to the world, twice... well, it doesn't matter what my theories were anymore. There is no denying exactly who he is now. I still wonder, was he always this person? If so, top .0001% acting skills. ___ [0] Ketamine as a Possible Moderator of Hypnotizability: A Feasibility Study https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6181123/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6181123/
      - mlindner 1y ago
        He hasn't given a nazi salute to anyone, let alone the world. You're letting the media influence you too much. And he's one of the worst people at acting. He's always said more or less what he thinks.
  - dzhiurgis 1y ago
    Or actual order came from DOD or he fears russians will destroy his constellation. Regardless, Reuters cannot be trusted with reporting in Musk, they’ve demonstrated that too many times. Kinda shame since otherwise they’ve been good.
    - consumer451 1y ago
      > or he fears russians will destroy his constellation. How could this be accomplished? Short of magically causing a coronal mass ejection of historic proportion, aimed directly at the earth so that the thermosphere greatly expanded, I do not see how this could be carried out. Starlink is that badass. However, Musk is just embarrassing himself these days though, from first principles. I actually do feel bad for the guy.
      - dzhiurgis 1y ago
        Russia has weapons against satellites. They've tested them very irresponsibly (China too) a decade or so ago.
        consumer451 1y ago
        Sure, but that's against individual Keyhole style sats. Many countries have that capability.[0] The USA has demonstrated the ability to kill a single sat from a USN ship, and a USAF F-15.[1] However, even the USA has no solution for a mega constellation. That's why the CCP is deploying at least 3 different mega constellations, with a planned total of >40,000 satellites. There is no existing kinetic solution for the entirely novel concept of Starlink sized mega constellations in LEO. (actually near "very" LEO which is a significant factor) Take out 10, oh that's nice, we have 10,000 more currently in orbit. Oh, you took out 120 Starlink sats somehow, that's how many we launch per month. Maybe a nuke with chaff? That could create a dead spot that orbits around the world every 90 minutes? Still, not a killer solution, right? Please, anyone feel free to correct me. However, a network engineer could be hungover/bribed/comprimised and push a bad BGP route... that would take down an entire mega constellation network for a bit. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASM-135_ASAT#/media/File:An_air-to-air_left_side_view_of_an_F-15_Eagle_aircraft_releasing_an_anti-satellite_(ASAT)_missile_during_a_test.jpeg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASM-135_ASAT#/media/File:An_ai...
- mlindner 1y ago
  Or maybe this story is made up just like the last one was that talked about this same event?
nialse 1y ago
Sounds excellent! If you will not agree with EU transparency for political ads you should exit the market.
- nialse 1y ago
  This comment obviously ended up in the wrong thread.
rasz 1y ago
>A previously unreported unreported? https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4193788-musk-acknowledges-he-turned-off-starlink-internet-access-last-year-during-ukraine-attack-on-russia-military/ https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4193788-musk-acknowledges...
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago
  That was regarding a naval attack on Sebastopol. This is a separate incident.
  - mlindner 1y ago
    No it's the same incident they previously talked about. There was no evidence to support it back then and they're just trying the same story again trying to make it stick.
hnburnsy 1y ago
>It isn’t clear what prompted Musk’s command, when exactly he gave it, or precisely how long the outage lasted. Not much here
- consumer451 1y ago
  What are you saying exactly? Break it down for me. I am simple, it's likely that I just don't understand.

51 points by jaredwiener 1y ago

it is fucking crazy that we allow gigantic service operators to move with the freedom of an IRC op. starting to think that maybe elon musk is not a good person!

throwaway_9000 1y ago
Or was probably recruited by Russia's intelligence when (in)famously trying to purchase Russian ICBMs to create a greenhouse photo-op on Mars.
- ben_w 1y ago
  I'm sure they (and many others) have tried recruiting him at multiple points, but if the Russians had wanted to recruit him back then, they'd have sold him a launch rather than laughing in his face, and consequently SpaceX likely wouldn't have happened at all.
  - consumer451 1y ago
    As a previously huge Musk fanboy, I must admit that I was trying to grasp at straws at the point of TFA, and many other points prior. At one time, I thought maybe Musk's brain was a victim of some microwave brain->mush weapon or something. Then, I thought it was all about when he went from not realizing his gains to getting the biggest single pay day in history, and having to write a multi-billion dollar tax check that fried his brain. In the most recent years, I thought that he flipped personalities, and somehow became an easily influenced person for some reason [0], who might believe things that a person like Sacks tells him. When he gave a Nazi salute to the world, twice... well, it doesn't matter what my theories were anymore. There is no denying exactly who he is now. I still wonder, was he always this person? If so, top .0001% acting skills. ___ [0] Ketamine as a Possible Moderator of Hypnotizability: A Feasibility Study https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6181123/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6181123/
    - mlindner 1y ago
      He hasn't given a nazi salute to anyone, let alone the world. You're letting the media influence you too much. And he's one of the worst people at acting. He's always said more or less what he thinks.
- dzhiurgis 1y ago
  Or actual order came from DOD or he fears russians will destroy his constellation. Regardless, Reuters cannot be trusted with reporting in Musk, they’ve demonstrated that too many times. Kinda shame since otherwise they’ve been good.
  - consumer451 1y ago
    > or he fears russians will destroy his constellation. How could this be accomplished? Short of magically causing a coronal mass ejection of historic proportion, aimed directly at the earth so that the thermosphere greatly expanded, I do not see how this could be carried out. Starlink is that badass. However, Musk is just embarrassing himself these days though, from first principles. I actually do feel bad for the guy.
    - dzhiurgis 1y ago
      Russia has weapons against satellites. They've tested them very irresponsibly (China too) a decade or so ago.
      - consumer451 1y ago
        Sure, but that's against individual Keyhole style sats. Many countries have that capability.[0] The USA has demonstrated the ability to kill a single sat from a USN ship, and a USAF F-15.[1] However, even the USA has no solution for a mega constellation. That's why the CCP is deploying at least 3 different mega constellations, with a planned total of >40,000 satellites. There is no existing kinetic solution for the entirely novel concept of Starlink sized mega constellations in LEO. (actually near "very" LEO which is a significant factor) Take out 10, oh that's nice, we have 10,000 more currently in orbit. Oh, you took out 120 Starlink sats somehow, that's how many we launch per month. Maybe a nuke with chaff? That could create a dead spot that orbits around the world every 90 minutes? Still, not a killer solution, right? Please, anyone feel free to correct me. However, a network engineer could be hungover/bribed/comprimised and push a bad BGP route... that would take down an entire mega constellation network for a bit. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-satellite_weapon [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASM-135_ASAT#/media/File:An_air-to-air_left_side_view_of_an_F-15_Eagle_aircraft_releasing_an_anti-satellite_(ASAT)_missile_during_a_test.jpeg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ASM-135_ASAT#/media/File:An_ai...
mlindner 1y ago
Or maybe this story is made up just like the last one was that talked about this same event?

nialse 1y ago

Sounds excellent! If you will not agree with EU transparency for political ads you should exit the market.

nialse 1y ago
This comment obviously ended up in the wrong thread.

rasz 1y ago

>A previously unreported unreported? https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4193788-musk-acknowledges-he-turned-off-starlink-internet-access-last-year-during-ukraine-attack-on-russia-military/ https://thehill.com/policy/defense/4193788-musk-acknowledges...

JumpCrisscross 1y ago
That was regarding a naval attack on Sebastopol. This is a separate incident.
- mlindner 1y ago
  No it's the same incident they previously talked about. There was no evidence to support it back then and they're just trying the same story again trying to make it stick.

hnburnsy 1y ago

>It isn’t clear what prompted Musk’s command, when exactly he gave it, or precisely how long the outage lasted. Not much here

consumer451 1y ago
What are you saying exactly? Break it down for me. I am simple, it's likely that I just don't understand.