this post was submitted on 02 Mar 2025
137 points (100.0% liked)

World News

692 readers
496 users here now

Rules:

  1. Be a decent person
  2. No spam
  3. Add the byline, or write a line or two in the body about the article.

Other communities of interest:

founded 5 months ago
MODERATORS
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
137
EU to help Ukraine replace Musk’s Starlink (www.politico.eu)
submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
5 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

The European Commission is figuring out how it could help Ukraine secure satellite communication capacity in the wake of Elon Musk reportedly threatening to pull Kyiv's access to his Starlink network. Space-based communication systems are a critical tool for Ukraine, but it remains unclear whether Musk will continue to offer Starlink as the war grinds on. Ukraine said last year it has about 42,000 Starlink terminals in operation in the country; about half are financed by Poland.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Unfortunately Europe has no competitior at present but more importantly they’re a long way from having a suitable (reusable, rapid cadence) launch vehicle. Ariane 6 is still not ready for prime time, the launch cadence can’t touch SpaceX, and the costs are higher. https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/07/europes-first-ariane-6-flight-achieved-most-of-its-goals-but-ended-prematurely/

I’d leave Starlink in an instant if there was a reasonable alternative.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

They could use spacex to launch their own. Last I checked spacex liked money.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago

This is true; Bezos’s scheme is doing that. Better than doing nothing while they come up with a high frequency rocket of their own.