Elon Musk, the billionaire, has stated that his rocket company, SpaceX, will continue to fund its Starlink service in Ukraine’s war-torn regions. Musk announced the news on Twitter, wrote, “the hell with it … even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free”.
However, Musk had stated just a day before writing the tweet that SpaceX could not continue to fund Starlink in Ukraine indefinitely.
In a tweet, Musk claimed that supporting Ukraine’s communication demands was costing SpaceX $20 million each month.
“SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households,” he mentioned.
During the conflict with Russia, the military and citizens were able to maintain their online presence thanks to the Starlink satellite connection. Ukraine’s communications in its conflict with Russia have been largely dependent on Starlink, a network of more than 3,000 tiny satellites in low Earth orbit.
Although it was unclear whether Musk’s change of heart was genuine at the time, he later appeared to indicate it was. Musk responded to a Twitter user who said, “No good deed goes unpunished,” by saying, “Even so, we should still do good deeds.”
Elon Musk has been engaged in online debates with Ukrainian officials over a peace plan he proposed that Ukraine claims is overly generous to Russia, including recognition of Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
In the meantime, the US military acknowledged that it was in contact with the billionaire’s corporation regarding funding for the vital network, according to the news agency AFP.
According to an updated figure given by Musk last week, 25,000 ground terminals have been delivered by SpaceX to Ukraine.
According to him, SpaceX has already spent $80 million on the operation, and by the end of the year, the total cost will likely be higher than $100 million.
In a recent interview, Musk revealed that he had written to the Pentagon to warn them that his financial support would expire and that the military would have to pick up the tab.
According to SpaceX data provided to the Pentagon, over 85% of the initial 20,000 terminals in Ukraine were funded, in whole or in part, by nations like the United States, Poland, or other entities. These same nations or entities also covered roughly 30% of the cost of internet connectivity.
