Starlink Satellite Internet Activates in Ukraine

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Elon Musk reported that Starlink satellite internet service started up in Ukraine and provides internet terminals for the country.

As of now, it is not clear about the availability of the service, and it is uncertain if it will be free or how SpaceX is planning on getting the terminals to Ukraine.

Starlink Satellite Internet Is Active in Ukraine

Starlink is an internet service in low-Earth orbit that SpaceX has created for several years. They are a constellation of connected satellites that provide high-speed internet to most of the population.

To this point, SpaceX has launched over 2,000 satellites and added 100 satellites into orbit in a week in just two separate launches.

The entire constellation is planned to be made up of about 4,000 satellites when they are finished.

Starlink varies from the other satellite internet companies as they are in low-Earth orbit rather than geostationary orbit. Therefore, Starlink can provide faster internet speeds as their signal does not travel as far.

To connect to Starlink, they will need a terminal, a small satellite dish that receives an internet signal.

Theoretically, Starlink may be beneficial for situations like the one currently in Ukraine. This is because it doesn’t depend on traditional internet structure, and therefore it can’t be easily cut off, although the terminals will have to be powered.

Starlink Less Censorship 

This will make it hypothetically more resistant to censorship and physical attacks/cyberattacks on regular internet infrastructure.

Internet companies that monitor the internet have said that internet traffic in Ukraine has been down significantly as the war is going on. However, it is uncertain whether this is because of mass migration, widespread outages, overall chaos related to war, or all three.

As of now, Starlink in the United States is still currently in beta and is a fascinating but costly product.

It has download speeds of 100 Mbps, and it will cost $100 per month and $500 terminal fees. It is a lot faster service than found in most rural parts of the United States.

Starlink has had some bad luck with intermittent connectivity and outages when the terminal changes between satellites.

SpaceX recently announced the Starlink Premium, a higher tier of service that uses a larger antenna and offers faster speeds of 500 Mbps. However, it will be costly as the antenna alone will cost you $2,500, and just the internet will cost you another $500 per month.