ELON Musk has swooped in to help Ukraine by offering internet from his legion of satellites.
With communication on the ground at risk from Russian invasion, the country’s deputy prime minister pleaded with the billionaire to offer critical assistance via his Starlink service.
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“While you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine!” Mykhailo Fedorov said on Twitter.
“While your rockets successfully land from space — Russian rockets attack Ukrainian civil people!
“We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address sane Russians to stand.”
The SpaceX founder quickly responded, saying the service is “now active” in Ukraine, with “more terminals en route”.
So how does Starlink work and can it keep Ukraine’s communications going?
What is Starlink and how does it work?
Starlink is a growing constellation of internet satellites operated by Elon Musk’s SpaceX company.
Instead of using cables on the ground, it beans internet to users from the skies.
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It is designed to help those who live in really remote places where traditional broadband is too slow or not available at all.
SpaceX is regularly blasting more satellites off into Low Earth Orbit – that’s about 300 miles above the surface – to increase coverage.
It plans to have around 40,000 satellites in space eventually, though the move has been met with concerns that it could block the skies and trap us on Earth.
Availability has been gradually rolled out to several countries, including the US and UK.
Satellite internet is nothing new, but Musk’s technology and volume makes it possible to deliver speeds of up to 150Mbps.
Much like a Sky TV box, you need a satellite dish on the ground to receive the internet signal.
How much does Starlink cost?
Starlink doesn’t come cheap.
To get the hardware alone it’ll cost you £439/$499 plus £56/$50 for delivery.
Then the monthly subscription cost comes in at £89/$99 a month.
Could Starlink keep Ukraine online?
With thousands of satellites already, Starlink can handle lots of people at once but would probably struggle if it had to suddenly serve an entire country where population is more than 44million.
So far, globally, the service only has about 145,000 users.
As it has become more popular across the globe, existing users have already complained that connection speeds have slowed down as a result.
So can you imagine how bad it would get if millions were trying to access it all at once?
Plus, Ukrainians will need an all important satellite dish on the ground to get hold of signal in the first place.
So Starlink is a good lifeline for important matters but wouldn’t be able to keep everyone in the country online at once unfortunately.
What is Starlink?
Starlink is a satellite project launched by billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk in 2015.
Musk intends to put 12,000 satellites into Earth’s orbit over next decade, possibly rising to 42,000 in future.
The “mega-constellation” will eventually be able to beam internet coverage to anywhere on the planet, according to SpaceX.
The California company says its network will provide users with high-speed, low-latency internet coverage.
Latency is the time it takes to send data from one point to the next.
Because Starlink sats are 60 times closer to Earth than most satellites, SpaceX’s WiFi latency is lower than traditional satellite internet.
The firm sends its satellites up in batches of 60 at a time and has deployed more than 1,400 into orbit since 2019.
They’re launched from Cape Carnaveral in Florida atop unmanned Falcon 9 rockets, which are also built by SpaceX.
The effect of the low-orbiting tech on views of the night sky is a major concern, as they appear brighter than many stars and planets.
Astronomers and amateur stargazers have repeatedly blasted SpaceX for ruining their observations.
The company argues that its satellites are only bright shortly after launch because they sit in a low orbit.
Over several weeks, the satellites move further from Earth, apparently dampening their effect on space observations.
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This post first appeared on Thesun.co.uk
