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SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service is capable of connecting thousands of people from a single terminal, the company’s chief executive Mr. Elon Musk announced today. SpaceX, in partnership with the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), has delivered thousands of terminals to Ukraine and these have been used by local people to bypass communications outages caused by the Russian military due to the invasion of Ukraine .
According to Musk, each dish is capable of connecting to a cell tower, which in turn can relay the signal to thousands of users. Starlink has come under fire at the United Nations from Russia, with the country warning it could retaliate militarily against SpaceX’s satellites.
Musk says Starlink has delivered “crucial” Battlefield advantages in Ukraine
Musk’s latest comments came after he got caught up in yet another controversy after suggesting that the disputed territory of Crimea should become part of Ukraine as a solution to the devastating Russian invasion of Ukraine that has caused massive loss of life .
In a series of new Twitter posts, the executive revealed that the terminals his company shipped to Ukraine with the help of the US government have allowed the Ukrainian military to keep its communications lines open after Ukraine’s infrastructure collapsed earlier this year damaged by Russia.
His greatest revelation was that any Starlink dish is capable of connecting to cell towers and providing them with an internet connection. These towers can then be used to serve thousands of customers.
Musk explained:
There are approximately 25,000 terminals in Ukraine, but each terminal can be used to provide an internet uplink to a cell tower, potentially allowing several thousand people to be served from a single terminal
In response to a tweet quoting a Ukrainian soldier who claimed Starlink was a big factor in turning the invasion against Russia, Musk also confirmed that the equipment was used by the Ukrainian military and that it was indeed the case.provides a decisive battlefield advantage”.
This part is particularly important given that Russia’s officials at the United Nations warned last month that civilian space facilities used in the war could be attacked by the Russian military. They had called U.S. Owned Assets directly and stated that:
Namely, the use by the United States and its allies of elements of civilian, including commercial, infrastructure in space for military purposes. It seems our colleagues fail to realize that such actions actually constitute indirect involvement in military conflicts. Quasi-civilian infrastructure can become a legitimate target for retaliation.
According to the report, Musk stated that Starlink is only for peaceful purposes, and throughout the war, satellite imaging provided by Maxar – another US company – has also helped Ukrainians in their defense against the aggression.
Russia also possesses the ability to shoot down satellites through its System A-235 PL-19 Nudo ballistic missile, which is capable of knocking out not only spacecraft but also missiles headed for Moscow.
This rocket successfully shot down the Russian satellite Kosmos 1408 in 2021 at an estimated altitude of almost 500 kilometers. This is within the same range used by the Starlink satellites, but the Starlink satellites are significantly smaller than the Kosmos satellite, numbering in the thousands. Therefore, the only real threat to the constellation is the potential debris that could be generated should Russia decide to escalate and attack US civilian infrastructure.
