SpaceX will no longer fund Starlink satellites for Ukraine
Due to the Ukraine war, Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX has invested millions to bring satellite internet to Ukraine. The company has provided several satellites and thousands of receiver units for this purpose. Now the billionaire is asking the Pentagon to cover the costs.
In late February 2022, SpaceX had deployed its Starlink satellites to bring internet to war-affected people in Ukraine.
CEO Elon Musk has now declared that he can no longer bear the costs of operation. SpaceX also reportedly wrote a letter asking the Pentagon to provide funding for the satellite internet service.
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Starlink in Ukraine costs SpaceX hundreds of millions of dollars
So far, SpaceX has sent about 20,000 satellite units to Ukraine, according to a report by CNN. That cost Musk’s company around $80 million.
Operating the necessary satellites, as well as the receiver units themselves, would cost more than $120 million for the remainder of the year. In addition, the cost would increase to nearly $400 million in the coming year.
According to Musk, his company is not in a position to send any more terminals to Ukraine or to fund the existing ones indefinitely.
Ukraine demands more satellites
Noisy CNN Valerii Zaluzhniy, the commanding general of the Ukrainian military, asked Elon Musk for nearly 8,000 more Starlink terminals in July 2022.
An outside consultant working for SpaceX also expressed doubts to the Pentagon about the company’s financial ability to provide additional terminals or services.
“Fuck Off” demands Ukrainian ambassador
Musk recently angered the people of Ukraine by proposing that some territories be ceded to Russia to end the war. Andriy Melnyk, the outgoing Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, strongly condemned the proposal and wrote it down Twitter:
Fuck off is my very diplomatic response to you @elonmusk.
Musk answered followed up on another post related to the future of the Starlink service in Ukraine and the ambassador’s remarks:
We just follow his recommendation.
In Ukrainian war zones, people often have no Internet access due to the destroyed infrastructure. The Starlink satellites are used especially by the Ukrainian military and NGOs as a means of communication.
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