Today marks 108 days since Russian soldiers violently invaded Ukraine. The war has caused destruction to critical infrastructures and displaced millions of people across the country. In February, Ukrainian government officials asked SpaceX to help maintain a reliable communication system in the country and the company immediately shipped Starlink hardware. This week, SpaceX founder Elon Musk shared a company presentation slideshow that showcased SpaceX's accomplishments and future plans. It revealed the company delivered a total of 15,000 Starlink user terminals to Ukraine and that it provides internet to nearly 500,000 subscribers living across 32 countries that speak 9 languages. Visit SpaceX's official website to see Starlink Coverage Map: Starlink.com/map.
In May the Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Digital Transformation of Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov shared that Starlink is actively providing reliable internet to around 150,000 users daily. “Rough data on Starlink's usage: around 150K active users per day. This is crucial support for Ukraine's infrastructure and restoring the destroyed territories. Ukraine will stay connected no matter what,” said Fedorov. The Starlink broadband satellite constellation is actively helping emergency responders and civilians coordinate safety operations amid the war.
According to the Ukraine Ministry of Health, 590 SpaceX Starlink user terminals have been delivered to hospitals and health centers across the country. "Thanks to SpaceX's broadband satellite, our hospitals will always be able to remain connected. This is extremely important in times of war," stated Ukraine’s Health Minister Viktor Liashko.
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite internet service remains unaffected by the war, the user terminals receive data from the constellation of around 2,500 satellites in Low Earth Orbit. Starlink engineers are actively working to keep the network safe from Russian cyberattacks. SpaceX also enabled the user terminals to operate with low power consumption, so Starlink can be powered from car cigarette lighter. Musk said that the company also enabled Mobile roaming "so phased array antenna can maintain signal while on moving vehicle," he said in February. If Starlink users experience a power outage in the middle of the war, they can connect the dish to a car’s cigarette lighter to maintain active internet service.
Featured Image Source: SpaceX
About the Author
Evelyn Janeidy Arevalo
Evelyn J. Arevalo joined Tesmanian in 2019 to cover news as a Space Journalist and SpaceX Starbase Texas Correspondent. Evelyn is specialized in rocketry and space exploration. The main topics she covers are SpaceX and NASA.
