Starlink is crucial to Ukrainian defense — here’s how it works

Elon Musk’s SpaceX started providing Ukraine free access to its Starlink Internet service shortly after Russia invaded Ukraine.

The strategic benefits were clear: Access to the Internet for the people of Ukraine and the country’s military after Russia disrupted internet connections early on in the war.

The technology has been instrumental in guiding Ukraine’s drone strikes on Russian tanks and positions.

But now the future of Ukraine’s access to Starlink is uncertain. A week after a Twitter spat with Ukrainian Ambassador Andrij Melnyk, Musk said Friday that SpaceX will no longer provide Starlink free to Ukranians. The Pentagon has reportedly been asked to foot the bill.

What is Starlink for?

The Starlink program supplies internet to regions with sparse telecommunications infrastructure, like out at sea, in remote areas far aways from cities or in regions where internet access is restricted by governments.

How does Starlink work?

Starlink is a satellite constellation. It provides Internet access by transporting data via light, similar to a fiber optic cable. This transfer is facilitated through a network of small satellites that communicate with designated ground receivers.

SpaceX has around 3,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, a region in space below an altitude of 2,000 kilometers (1,200 miles) from the Earth’s surface. The satellites share orbit with the Hubble space telescope and the International Space Station (ISS).

SpaceX began launching Starlink satellites in 2019. The company said it plans to expand the network to up to 12,000 satellites, with a possible extension to 42,000.

Like other satellite Internet services, several components are needed on the ground and in the sky to provide internet access through Starlink. 

First, in order to connect devices like cell phones and computers to nearby satellites, a receiver device is required on the ground. 

That receiver independently aligns the receiving dish, which resembles a TV satellite dish, with an available satellite and the Internet connection is established.

Since 2019, space company SpaceX has already launched around 3000 satellites into low Earth orbit.

What are the advantages of Starlink?

Starlink is not the first service to offer satellite Internet, but it does have some advantages over its competitors. Starlink satellites orbit the Earth at an altitude of 328 to 614 kilometers (200 to 380 miles), significantly lower than the competition — Hughesnet, one of Starlink’s main competitors, orbits the earth at an altitude of 35,000 kilometers.  

Its low orbit allows Starlink’s data to flow around ten times quicker than Hughesnet.

Is Starlink worth it for private users?

So far, Starlink is only available in 40 countries, which include parts of the USA and Canada, central and southern Europe, parts of Latin America and the south of Australia. In other words, there still isn’t access available in many areas for which Starlink was originally intended.

This could be partly due to the fact that Starlink’s satellite Internet is very expensive. The receiver alone costs $600 (€620) The monthly usage fee is $110 (€113).

Satellite internet is hardly worthwhile in areas with good or satisfactory network coverage, unless you frequently travel by boat or motor home and want powerful, permanent Internet connection in remote regions.

Why is the Starlink program so controversial?

Fast internet for everyone everywhere sounds promising at first. But Starlink satellite Internet is controversial.

The provision of Starlink to Ukraine took place as a public agreement between Musk and Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukrainian deputy prime minister and minister for digital transformation, via the private blogging service Twitter — in other words, without any public debate or government oversight. 

There are also concerns over what would happen if Musk sold the private Starlink project to the highest bidder after completion. What would happen if totalitarian states or private companies with even less government oversight than SpaceX had control over this Earth-spanning network?

Will Elon Musk eventually sell the private Starlink project to the highest bidder?

Satellite crowding and space debris

There are also concerns that SpaceX is “crowding” our orbit with private satellites. The first Sputnik satellite was launched into space in 1957. Some 8,500 satellite launches have followed since. The Starlink network is expected to include 42,000 satellites in the coming years, which experts worry will overcrowd our orbit, putting other satellites at risk and hindering astronomers’ ability to make observations from Earth.

A computer generated representing the locations, but not relative sizes, of space debris. The dense cloud surrounding Earth are in low Earth orbit (LEO)

Starlink satellites are already being blamed for near-collisions with other satellites due to overcrowding in the low Earth orbit region, prompting experts to warn of the possibilities of domino-like pile-ups in space if the crowding continues. Satellites automatically change their trajectories to avoid possible collisions, which can trigger chain reactions when other satellites react to the shift in direction.

Another problem is the comparatively short lifespan of Musk’s Starlink satellites, which stop working after about five years. Instead of returning to Earth once they cease functioning, they remain in space, causing a continued buildup of space debris.

Some old satellites burn upon re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere, but new satellites must be constantly launched into space to avoid gaps in the network.

Edited by: Clare Roth

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/starlink-is-crucial-to-ukrainian-defense-here-s-how-it-works/a-63443808?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf