Why did Elon Musk reject Ukraine’s Starlink request? He explains

Elon Musk has confirmed that he declined a Ukrainian request to activate his Starlink satellite tv for pc community in Crimea’s port metropolis of Sevastopol final 12 months. The function of the request was allegedly to assist a Ukrainian assault on Russia’s fleet within the area. Musk defined that he refused this request as a result of Starlink’s phrases of service explicitly prohibit its use for offensive army actions.

The remark from the world’s richest individual comes after, Walter Isaacson’s upcoming biography, “Elon Musk,” reveals that when Ukrainian explosive-laden submarine drones approached the Russian fleet final 12 months, they misplaced connectivity and posed no risk, reported AE Daily News. Musk’s resolution to deactivate Starlink throughout this incident reportedly stemmed from his worry that Russia may reply to a Ukrainian assault with nuclear weapons, a priority pushed by his conversations with senior Russian officers and his apprehensions a few potential “mini-Pearl Harbor” state of affairs.

Isaacson’s put up on a social media platform elaborated that Ukraine mistakenly believed that Starlink protection prolonged all the best way to Crimea. They approached Musk to allow it for his or her drone submarine assault on the Russian fleet, a request he denied as a consequence of considerations about probably triggering a serious battle.

In response to this, Musk, in an X put up, stated there’s a significant distinction between refusing a request from Ukraine and deliberately altering Starlink to impede Ukraine. He stated at no level did he or anybody at SpaceX promise protection over Crimea, and Starlink’s phrases of service clearly prohibit its use for offensive army functions. “Our terms of service clearly prohibit Starlink for offensive military action, as we are a civilian system, so they were again asking for something that was expressly prohibited,” he wrote within the social media put up on Saturday.

Musk additionally stated SpaceX is growing Starshield for the US authorities, a system just like Starlink however smaller in scale and devoted to civilian use.

The strategic Crimea peninsula has been beneath Russian management since 2014, with the Black Sea Fleet primarily based in Sevastopol.

What is Starlink?

Starlink is a satellite tv for pc constellation comprising 1000’s of satellites orbiting the Earth at an altitude of 550 kilometres.

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Starlink benefit over conventional geostationary satellites, which orbit at a lot increased altitudes, is its capability to offer sooner and lower-latency web companies. Starlink claims to supply latency as little as roughly 20 milliseconds, in comparison with the 600+ milliseconds of conventional satellites.