Elon Musk's Technology Is Aiding Ukraine In A Big Way
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is using his company's advanced technologies to help fight the war in Ukraine. This war that Russian President Vladimir Putin waged has been as vicious using technology as it has been using traditional warfare, per The New York Times. American tech companies have been pressured to help Ukraine by limiting their service in Russia and any other possible methods. Plus, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has been begging for American aid, per the Rolling Stone.
And after challenging Putin to a fistfight didn't pan out, Musk decided to deploy his company's immense wealth and advanced technology to support the fighters on the ground in Ukraine. On February 26, Ukraine's Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov tweeted to Musk: "While you try to colonize Mars — Russia try to occupy Ukraine! 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." Musk's response? "Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals en route."
Well now that Musk's Starlinks have been in action for the past month, we are able to see exactly how they have been helping the fight in Ukraine.
Elon Musk's satellites help Ukrainians evade Russian detection
So, what exactly is the Starlink, and how does it work? SpaceX's Starlink satellites provide internet access through sending the connections directly from the Starlink satellites in space to terminals on Earth, per The Washington Post. This system was initially created to give remote or rural households access to the internet.
But now Elon Musk and SpaceX have been using the Starlink satellites to provide private internet connections to Ukrainian citizens. This is important because Russian officials and hackers are now unable to block and/or track Ukrainian citizens when they use the internet in Ukraine. Through the Starlinks, Ukrainian fighters can use Aerorozvidka — which means "Aerial Reconnaissance" — "to keep connected and provide intelligence as internet and power outages plague Ukraine," per the Daily Mail. By using this intelligence, Ukrainians can attack Russian tanks. On March 19, Musk launched 53 more Starlink satellites.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says that he and Musk have more plans to collaborate in the war effort. "Next week we will receive another batch of Starlink systems for destroyed cities. Discussed possible space projects. But I'll talk about this after the war," he tweeted. This has been some very welcome good news amongst the atrocities happening in the war in Ukraine, and hopefully, progress will continue towards peace.