EPA
News from the NOS•yesterday, 21:24
The Ukrainian army is hampered in the reconquest of the territory by the Russians by malfunctions in the Starlink satellites. Those disruptions have led to a “catastrophic” break in communications in recent weeks, a Ukrainian government official told the British newspaper. Financial Times.
Many disruptions occurred when Ukrainian soldiers broke through Russian lines, the newspaper said, particularly on the front lines in the southern regions of Kherson and Zaporizhzhya, as well as in the east of the country. The satellite failure caused panic, says another unnamed Ukrainian official.
Two representatives of the Western powers let the newspaper know that they are aware of the problem.
Security mechanism
Starlink is the communications satellite system launched by Elon Musk’s US space company SpaceX with the support of the US government and donors. Thanks to this system, the Ukrainian army can communicate safely with each other, exchange information and deploy drones.
A prominent Ukrainian supporter suspects SpaceX has integrated a security mechanism to prevent the Russian military from using it. The unrest mainly occurred in areas that had just been recaptured and whose release had not yet been announced, a spokesperson for the donor told the newspaper. He recommends that the Ukrainian military and SpaceX work better together.
The Financial Times asked SpaceX, owner Elon Musk, the Ukrainian government, and the Ukrainian military for a response. Everyone refrains from commenting.
Musk responded on Twitter, but not substantially. He writes that the news of the newspaper is not good, because other subjects would have paid only a small part of the expenses. “And what happens on the battlefield is secret.”
Train of light streaks
Starlink regularly passes other countries in good weather, like a train of light crawling hundreds of kilometers above the earth’s surface. In the Netherlands, it was May 7 last year.
The project aims to ensure that the entire world has access to high-speed Internet by 2024. Ultimately, the network is expected to consist of around 12,000 satellites. The first satellites were launched in 2019. Since then, new ones have been added regularly.
