Gulf Now How did Elon Musk break Ukraine's isolation?
Sunday, February 27, 2022
Billionaire Elon Musk announced his support for Ukraine, which is under attack from Russia, by activating his Starlink satellite internet service.
"Starlink services are currently operating in Ukraine. More stations are on the way," Musk wrote on his Twitter page.
Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mikhailo Fedorov said that Musk's move came in response to a request from the Ukrainian Minister of Digitization.
Fedorov communicated with Musk directly via Twitter, indicating that while Musk is trying to "colonize Mars", Russia is trying to occupy Ukraine.
"While your missiles are landing successfully from space, Russian missiles are attacking Ukrainian civilians," Fedorov said.
We ask you to provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and to address the wise people of Russia to take a stand,” he added.
Starlink, which is currently operated by space exploration company SpaceX, allows people to connect to the Internet via a satellite dish.
Project Starlink is the company's capital-intensive venture to build an interconnected Internet network of thousands of satellites known in the space industry as a constellation, designed to deliver high-speed Internet to consumers anywhere on the planet.
SpaceX launched the service for the first time with a beta program for select consumers for $99 per month.
Musk has said earlier that Starlink will be an important source of funding for some of his other plans.
Last week, Musk launched the project, offering free high-speed internet to connect remote villages in Tonga that have been cut off since a devastating volcanic eruption and tsunami last January.
Satellites allow large amounts of information to be quickly transmitted to any point on Earth without the need for fiber optic cables.
The Starlink project of SpaceX aims to connect the Internet to all parts of the world by launching orbital satellites close to the Earth, unlike traditional satellites. United States, Canada and some European countries.
According to the company, during the beta, users can expect to see data transfer speeds of 50MB/s to 150MB/s and latency of 20ms to 40ms in most locations over the next several months. You improve the system, and also there will be short periods of internet outage.
Starlink states that with the launch of more satellites, the installation of more ground stations and the improvement of network software, data speed, response time and uptime will improve significantly, and Elon Musk expects the service to double its maximum speeds to 300 megabits per second.
Starlink satellites are more than 60 times closer to Earth than conventional satellites, resulting in lower latency and the ability to support services not normally possible using traditional satellite internet.
The company currently allows subscription for a limited number of users per coverage area at this time, and requests will be implemented on a first-come-first-served basis.
Anyone in the world can know when the service reaches his region via the Starlink website, but the spread of the service throughout the globe will occur when the number of satellites reaches 10,000.
The company delivers to the customer a dish that he installs on top of his house or in an open place to receive the signal, the router and the tools needed for it.
The price of the receiver, the router and the tools needed for it is $500, paid once, while the monthly service cost is $99.
It is noteworthy that Elon Musk had announced last May that his company had received 500,000 requests to join the Internet, "Starlink".
It is worth noting that the US Federal Commission approved the 2021 “SpaceX” plan to deploy some “Starlink” satellites in low Earth orbit, which will allow providing fast internet to those who do not have the opportunity to reach it.
The Starlink network is dedicated to ensuring Internet access, thanks to the deployment of a large number of small satellites weighing 500 kilograms. The first satellite of that network was launched in May 2019.
