SpaceX boss Elon Musk has indicated that the company will continue to fund Starlink satellite service in Ukraine, after saying it could not fund it indefinitely and asking the Pentagon to help find solutions. funds. Starlink, SpaceX’s satellite broadband service, has been essential to Ukraine’s communications since the start of the Russian invasion in February and subsequent attacks on critical infrastructure, including internet networks.
SpaceX donated thousands of terminals to Ukraine in February. As a reminder, the service usually costs 600 dollars for the terminal and 110 dollars per month for the connection. According to CNN, SpaceX’s director of government sales wrote a letter to the Pentagon in September asking it to provide funding for the use of Starlink by the Ukrainian government and military.
Last week, Elon Musk said in a tweet that it was unreasonable for SpaceX to fund Ukraine’s existing system indefinitely, as well as sending more terminals that use far more data than typical households. “SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but neither can it fund the existing system indefinitely and ship several thousand additional terminals that use up to 100 times more data than typical households. This is unreasonable,” said the entrepreneur.
Significant financing needs
SpaceX has estimated funding needs for the rest of 2022 at $120 million. The service could even cost nearly $400 million for the next 12 months. SpaceX has already provided about 20,000 terminals to Ukraine since Musk’s announcement in February. Ukrainian officials requested 8,000 additional Starlink terminals in July.
Never stingy with an about-face, Elon Musk finally seems to have changed his mind in recent days and seems ready to continue to equip Ukraine for an indefinite period. “Even if Starlink continues to lose money and other companies receive billions of taxpayer dollars, we will continue to fund the Ukrainian government for free,” he said in a tweet on Saturday.
SpaceX does a lot of business with the US government, especially through NASA, but also other agencies. In recent weeks, Elon Musk annoyed Ukrainian leaders and others earlier this month after posting a controversial Twitter poll with his few ideas for ending the invasion of Russia.
Source: ZDNet.com