In reversal, Elon Musk’s SpaceX to continue funding Starlink in Ukraine
- The announcement came one day after the tech billionaire suggested he could not keep funding the satellite internet project in war-torn Ukraine
- Starlink, a constellation of more than 3,000 small satellites in low Earth orbit, has been vital to Ukraine’s communications as it battles Russia
Elon Musk said on Saturday that his company SpaceX will continue to pay for Starlink satellite internet in war-torn Ukraine, one day after the tech billionaire suggested he could not keep funding the project.
Starlink, a constellation of more than 3,000 small satellites in low Earth orbit, has been vital to Ukraine’s communications as it battles Russia.
But Musk has found himself embroiled of late in public disputes with Ukrainian leaders who were angered by his controversial proposals for de-escalating the conflict, which included acknowledging Russian sovereignty over Crimea.
“The hell with it,” Musk, the world’s richest man, wrote on Twitter.
“Even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”
In a series of tweets on Friday, Musk had detailed the logistics of the operation and said it was costing SpaceX nearly US$20 million per month, and suggested the company could not fund it indefinitely.
Meanwhile, the US military confirmed it was communicating with the billionaire’s company about funding for the key network.
“SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households,” he said on Friday.