>But Starlink isn’t an instant fix, and Musk can’t exactly wave a wand at Ukraine’s internet disruptions. “It’s nice for him to offer, but that doesn’t mean it will actually have a meaningful impact right away,” Brian Weeden, a space-policy expert at the Secure World Foundation, a nonprofit group that promotes peaceful and responsible uses of space, told me. The entire sequence—the plea, the response, the actual effect—reveals some of the limits of Musk’s influence: His outsized reputation doesn't always match what he can actually control.
>These terminals must be within several hundred miles of ground stations that communicate with Starlink satellites before the satellites beam signals down to those dishes. There are no such stations inside Ukraine, but there are enough in neighboring countries to “provide service to the whole of Ukraine without issues,” Mike Puchol, the chief technology officer at an internet start-up who also runs a tracker of Starlink coverage, told me.
>Even if Starlink worked perfectly, the use of satellite technology can be risky in wartime, John Scott-Railton, a senior researcher at the University of Toronto’s Citizen Lab, told me. Transmissions between ground receivers and satellites can become beacons for air strikes. “None of this is new,” Scott-Railton said. “The only new thing is Starlink, which has never really been tested in a context of battle.”
One user, Oleg Kutkov is already using it, but he had gotten a terminal previously from the US, however it was only activated in Ukraine after the recent events:
Dang, some people are committed to criticism beyond all reason. Musk and his company sent Starlink terminals to Ukraine. No, that's not going to magically give everyone in the country internet. Perhaps it will help some people connect to the internet. What are they really expecting here though?
I think coverage like this is shameful and should be beneath (somewhat) reputable publications like The Atlantic. Imagine if someone in Ukraine asked a blanket company to send blankets, and Blanket Co quickly shipped some blankets, and then The Atlantic came out with the brilliant observation that these blankets wouldn't warm everyone in the country. Wow! Great point!
Look Musk has the capital and in some cases the knowledge and equipment to provide assistance. It's not always useful (see Thai sub debacle) but starlink may be useful so let's stop criticising people who are trying to help.
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[ 4.4 ms ] story [ 32.7 ms ] threadhttps://twitter.com/FedorovMykhailo/status/14983925152627466...
One user, Oleg Kutkov is already using it, but he had gotten a terminal previously from the US, however it was only activated in Ukraine after the recent events:
https://twitter.com/olegkutkov/status/1498398598442192904
I've sent him a DM on twitter, he might reply here with his updates.
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A twitter thread on the threat of triangulation of starlink terminals:
https://twitter.com/jsrailton/status/1497745011932286979
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=27799313
What bothers you here?
Now if you had said it was that he called someone pedo I might understand. But that's not what you said here.
The guy who was called pedo wasn't even a rescuer. He was not on the rescue team, but he did help them find the kids.
I think coverage like this is shameful and should be beneath (somewhat) reputable publications like The Atlantic. Imagine if someone in Ukraine asked a blanket company to send blankets, and Blanket Co quickly shipped some blankets, and then The Atlantic came out with the brilliant observation that these blankets wouldn't warm everyone in the country. Wow! Great point!