Following the Russian invasion on Ukrainian soil and the effect on Ukraine, Tesla and SpaceX founder/CEO Elon Musk announced the activation of the Starlink Internet in Ukraine as it suffers power outages. The Billionaire took to Twitter to announce the activation of the Starlink Internet, in his tweet he wrote “Starlink service is now active in Ukraine.” He added “More terminals en route.”
Amid the ongoing unrest in Ukraine due to the Russian attacks, Ukraine’s prime minister and minister of digital transformation requested that the Billionaire provide internet service to the citizens of Ukraine. According to a Twitter exchange between the two, Musk got the message and has now delivered it. Ukraine’s tech minister also appealed to Apple’s CEO, Tim Cook and other tech giants to take sides with Ukraine on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine crisis.
In the tweet directed to Elon Musk by Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s minister of digital transformation, he wrote “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.”
Reports say that a senior US defence official has confirmed that though there have been “intermittent” power outages in Ukraine, the internet is still “generally available.” The Starlink internet would go a long way to help Ukrainian stay abreast with information as well as communicate with people around the world. NetBlocks, an organization that monitors cybersecurity and the governance of the internet has revealed that since Russia launched its attack Ukraine has suffered a “series of significant disruptions to internet service.”
Starlink, a satellite-based global internet system built by SpaceX to bring reliable internet access to underserved areas and billions of people in the world, consisting of over 1600 satellites in mid-2021, and is poised to eventually consist of many thousands of mass-produced small satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), which communicate with designated ground transceivers. The Starlink satellites are equipped with krypton-fueled Hall thrusters, allowing them to de-orbit at the end of their life, with the satellites additionally designed to autonomously avoid collisions based on uplinked tracking data.
The Twitter exchange between Fedorov and Musk took place while Russian President Vladimir Putin continued to order his country’s troops into Ukrainian soil. This order covers for Russian nuclear arms to be placed on high alert should the need be. Ukrainian Deputy Interior Minister Evgeny Yenin has revealed that the Russian and Ukrainian delegations would commence today, Monday morning. Expectations are high that this delegation would find a meeting point and put down their arms.
Recently according to reports, the Starlink system was used in Tonga, in the South Pacific Ocean. Following the eruption of an underwater volcano in January, Starlink provided internet service to connect remote villages according to SpaceX. The eruption was likely the biggest recorded in over 30 years.
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Olagoke Ajibola is a creative writer and content producer with an eye for details and excellence. He has a demonstrated history of telling stories for TV, Film and Online. Aside from being fascinated by the power of imagination, his other interest are travel, sport, reading and meeting people.
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