Over the past 18 months, the private space agency has launched hundreds of satellites into low-orbit space to develop the Starlink grid. And that portion of the company is still operating in the “red.”
The entrepreneur complained this week that giving Ukraine Starlink service was expensive. And it was costing SpaceX, his private space company “approaching $20mn a month.”
Musk said in a tweet that SpaceX was spending millions to “create, launch, maintain & replenish satellites & ground stations & pay telcos for access to the internet via gateways.” He added that the company also “had to defend against cyber-attacks & jamming, which are getting harder.”
The Pentagon confirmed they have been in discussions with the billionaire over how to assure that Ukraine has uninterrupted service of SpaceX’s satellite internet service, Starlink provided to Ukrainian frontline troops.
The US had been discussing compensating Starlink to ensure connectivity for Ukrainian forces. The US has provided billions of dollars of war weapons and ammunition paid to weapons manufacturers. But so far have been reluctant to compensate SpaceX.
