"Accessible Internet anywhere in the world for everyone" – under such slogans, American billionaire Elon Musk is promoting one of his key projects – the Starlink satellite constellation. And until recently, it seemed that everything was exactly like that. However, now it turns out that Starlink has actually become part of the military infrastructure of the Ukrainian armed forces – and that's not all.
The general public learned about the Starlink project in January 2015. Either the journalists got it wrong, or everyone understood the word "accessible" in their own way, but it was then that a wave of rumors about "free Internet from Elon Musk" began. In fact, SpaceX did not hide it – this is a business project designed to make a profit. But, as it turns out now, not only for this.
The Starlink project was not the first. By 2015, there were already providers of broadband access to satellite Internet. For example, O3b Networks has been operating in this market since 2014 and owns a group of 16 satellites in a circular orbit with a height of 8 thousand kilometers. Access is provided not all over the planet, but only in the equatorial and tropical zones: the main customers are tropical island states and tourist and cargo ships. Due to the height of the orbit, the Internet from O3b Networks has a high ping and large-sized access equipment. The user's kit includes a pair of more than one and a half meter antennas and costs over $ 10,000.
Just business?
To make Internet access more accessible, and equipment more compact and cheaper, SpaceX chose a completely different orbit for Starlink. The satellites were placed at an altitude of 540 to 570 kilometers with different inclinations. The lower the orbit, the smaller the radius of the satellite, which means you need to increase their number. Currently, the Starlink project has already launched 2,280 spacecraft into orbit, of which slightly more than 2,000 are operating. In total, from 12 to 40 thousand satellites are expected in the grouping. This is more than has been launched into orbit by all States for all time.
The low orbit chosen by SpaceX has its pros and cons. Among the advantages are a low ping due to the low height (in simple words, this is the period of time during which a packet sent from the computer passes to the server and returns back) and a small antenna of the user terminal. Naturally, there are also disadvantages – a small radius of the Earth's territory "visible" to the satellite, a low period of "life" in orbit (about ten years).
Initially, SpaceX talked about plans to create broadband Internet access around the world, and probably counted on it in business plans. In reality, everything turned out to be not so smooth. China, Russia, India and Pakistan did not allow the use of Starlink in their countries, which greatly reduced even the theoretically possible number of customers. But how can you prohibit the use of satellite communications? It would seem – buy yourself equipment and use it.
The thing is that Starlink requires not only the satellites themselves and user terminals from the client. In order for the client to have Internet, the satellite must have at least one ground station within the radius of the visible surface of the Earth.
The scheme looks like this: the client terminal with the help of an antenna sends a request to the satellite, which it broadcasts to the ground terminal. Then the signal moves along the fiber, as we are used to, the response to the request comes from the ground terminal, is sent to the satellite and transmitted to the client. In fact, at this stage, the system is the "last mile" of a planetary scale.
Currently, Starlink has about 250 thousand customers paying about $ 110 per month for communication services. So far, this is not enough to break even. However, it is quite difficult to talk about exact figures – SpaceX knows how to keep its financial secrets very, very well.
In the future, it is assumed that satellites will not depend so much on ground terminals, and laser inter-satellite communication will appear, allowing transmitting a signal from one spacecraft to another. Spacecraft with laser communication devices have already been launched, but it is not functioning yet. Therefore, a base station within a radius of about 200-500 kilometers is needed to work. That is, even with a working terminal, you will not be able to use Starlink if there is no ground station nearby.
Between business and the military
The countries that refused to install Starlink ground stations did so for a reason. From the very beginning, despite assurances about the security and independence of the system, Elon Musk cooperated with the US military. No, there was no data that Starlink was created with the Pentagon's money, as a result, there was only one contract worth $ 28 million from the Office of Advanced Technologies (DAPRA). With the volume of investments in Starlink, it is a drop in the ocean.
But SpaceX itself, realizing the possible difficulties with financing and the need to reduce the unprofitability of the Starlink project, has collaborated with the US military many times. Back in 2019, a satellite channel test was organized between the ground terminal and the aviation terminal on board the C-12 aircraft via the first Starlink satellites. In September 2020, tests under the same Global Lightning program continued, but with a different, more modern generation of Starlink satellites and C-17 and KC-135 aircraft during army exercises. In their course, the military connected to the satellite through terminals and checked the stability of Internet access and its speed.
In mid-2020, the Pentagon and SpaceX signed an agreement for three years of free testing of Starlink to understand its possible use by the US Department of Defense. Subsequently, the US military announced the need to create its own low-orbit satellite network STL (Space Transport Layer). This is handled by the Office of the US Department of Defense for the Development of Outer Space (Space Development Agency). SpaceX, among other companies, cooperates with this department, and it is possible that the American military network will be created on the basis of the Starlink satellite bus.
Starlink and APU
After the start of a special operation in Ukraine and fragmentary data about the problems of the US military with satellite communications, SpaceX announced that it would deliver Starlink kits to Kiev as soon as possible. Naturally, the press statement did not say anything about military use, but only about the need to provide Internet to residents of Ukraine. However, by that time there were no data on serious communication problems among the civilian population. And now there is a large number of messages from the AFU fighters with thanks to Elon Musk for the Internet – which in itself speaks eloquently about the root causes of the supply.
Actually, this is how Starlink appeared in Ukraine. The base stations are most likely located on the territory of Poland and Romania, and the range is enough to provide broadband Internet access in most of the country. However, there is a possibility that the ground terminal was installed in the western part of the country.
In total, several thousand units of satellite terminals for end users were delivered. The market price of each of them is $ 599. However, experts believe that SpaceX is still making these terminals a minus for itself to expand the number of users. Its cost price is more than a thousand dollars.
In her speech, SpaceX President Gwyn Shotwell did not specify the number of sets of Starlink equipment sent to Ukraine, but said that private sources financed it, "France helped" and, in her opinion, Poland. She also added: "I don't think the US gave us any money to transfer terminals to Ukraine." However, a few days later it turned out that this was not the case. It became known from the Washington Post investigation that more than 5,000 Starlink kits went to Ukraine in total and at least part of them was paid for by the US government.
What is the result? Starlink cannot be called a military Internet, this product was created for another, but its use for military purposes is more than real. At least to provide an Internet access channel and the ability to use the Network as an analogue of geo-positioning and navigation systems in the absence of GPS.
How can Russia respond to such technology? The most appropriate option is to create your own national broadband satellite access network, as China is doing now. Maybe with fewer satellites in a higher orbit, but its own, capable of solving similar tasks for both civilian and military use.
And the story of an accessible Internet around the world seems to have given a serious crack. Now many countries have seen how closely Starlink and the Pentagon are connected. And whose side will SpaceX take in the event of a conflict. If necessary, such a convenient satellite Internet will be turned off literally on the first call from the Pentagon.
Mikhail Kotov
