“Most communications satellites are in a geostationary orbit, high enough that they are in the same part of the sky 24/7. Ground stations just have to point their dishes at the satellite to patch into a system that delivers services ranging from live-streaming TV to internet to smartphone communications.
Starlink is attempting a different approach. The system consists of a constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit, currently numbering just over 2,000, envisioned to eventually number in the tens of thousands. A customer would acquire a terminal that would consist of an antenna, wifi and cables. The antenna can be deployed anywhere exposed to the sky, such as a rooftop.
SpaceX advertises the service as a “high speed, low latency” internet service that will eventually encompass the entire globe, including rural areas where access to the internet has been spotty or even nonexistent. Through Starlink, a customer gets access to services such as online gaming, remote education and virtual doctor visits.
Starlink has not been without controversy. Astronomers complain that the satellite constellation constitutes light pollution that interferes with their observations. Others suggest that so many satellites in low-Earth orbit constitutes a space debris hazard. SpaceX claims that they are working with astronomers to minimize light pollution. The company also says that Starlink Satellites are designed to mitigate against the possibility of becoming space debris.
Starlink played a crucial role in the recovery of Tonga, a Polynesian kingdom of 169 islands in the South Pacific, when a volcano erupted in January, sending a plume 36 miles into the air and causing a devastating tsunami. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk provided 50 VSAT terminals that reconnected some of the outlying inhabited islands to the internet pending the restoration of undersea cables that had been destroyed by the disaster.
Starlink is facing its greatest test in Ukraine. According to Forbes, shortly after the Russians invaded the country, the Ukraine government requested that Musk provide that country with Starlink terminals, a request that Musk quickly obliged. While Ukraine’s regular internet service is being disrupted due to Russian hacking and destruction of infrastructure, Starlink is providing that country with an alternate way to access the world.” The Hill
Comment: Starlink and Musk will obviously be a target for Russian IO and its agents of influence. pl
How SpaceX’s Starlink is changing how the world communicates | TheHill
Good on Elon for supporting Ukraine. And good on him for indulging in a little trash talk by challenging Putin to fisticuffs. Kadyrov, Putin’s sockpuppet in Chechnya, responded publicly by saying Elon is a gentle and effeminate Elona. Musk embraced the name on his twitter account:
https://twitter.com/supemnenie/status/1503854197099401222/photo/1
Good for Elon. He should also add more security and watch his back. His families too.
He already has an impressive portal to portal executive protection, secure transportation, surveillance detection, and residential security details complete with protective intelligence and OSINT support. Companies that provide this service to ultra high net worth (ie Forbes 100) hire only vetted tier one SOF, LE, and IC veterans that provide multiple clandestine rings of protection.
It goes further than just providing Starlink terminals to Ukraine. Ukrainian ISR drones supposedly connect to starlink.
https://nypost.com/2022/03/21/elon-musks-starlink-satellites-helping-ukraine-drones-destroy-russian-tanks-report/
“The question arises: Why does the U.S. government need this? Because this kind of spacecraft does not only distribute internet, but can become a tool for controlling cruise missiles, recalibrating their flight tasks mid-flight, controlling special forces, or an agent network.”
-Dmitry Rogozin
https://militarywatchmagazine.com/article/russian-musk-starlink-hijack-missiles
I think Musk is trolling them with his creative wits. Although a mater judokan, Putin is a 5’7 autistic pipsqueak and as of recently walks with a limp.
https://nypost.com/2022/03/16/elon-musk-changes-twitter-name-to-elona-in-spat-with-putin-crony-kadyrov/