Dusseldorf The Internet service Starlink is considered an important technology for Ukraine to withstand the Russian war of aggression. But now a message from the operator SpaceX is causing a stir: According to this, Elon Musk’s company wants to restrict the military use of the Internet service. Specifically, it should be about the control of drones.
In wartime, drones are used to drop grenades and reconnoiter enemy positions. They have long since become a symbol of war. What is new is that it will be shown on SpaceX: photos that were distributed on the Russian channels of the messenger service Telegram show a combat drone equipped with Starlink receivers.
This is not in the interests of the company, SpaceX is now saying. Ukraine has received a total of 30,000 Starlink terminals because the Russian military is attacking infrastructure and interfering with cellular communications. With the small satellite receivers, an Internet connection can be set up from anywhere. Countries such as the USA and Poland paid for a large part of the terminals, while the company donated a smaller part.
But Starlink was never meant to be weaponized, director of operations Gwynne Shotwell told reporters in Washington. Rather, broadband Internet was intended for hospitals and affected families.
However, SpaceX should have known about the misuse for a long time. The US Department of Defense may now be urging the company to avoid a further escalation of the war.
Starlink Executive: “Things We Can Do and Have Already Done”
But can SpaceX even control what its service is used for? How purposefully can it prevent actions? And can it thus absolve Starlink of being an instrument for killing? The Handelsblatt spoke to experts on satellites, drones and the military about this.
Ukraine has received a total of 30,000 satellite terminals, and several thousand are said to be in use by the military. Newer variants of the terminals are rectangular.
(Photo: Reuters)
The focus is on the role of Starlink in the use of drones. Shotwell addressed reports that the Ukrainian military used Starlink to pilot drones. SpaceX has ways to limit that, the Reuters news agency quotes you as saying: “There are things that we can do and have already done.”
Despite the images and reports, there are doubts as to whether and to what extent Ukraine can really control drones via satellite internet. Experts say that smaller drones in particular need a lot of energy if they carry one of the receivers, which are around 30 by 50 centimeters in size and weigh more than four kilograms.
Walter Ballheimer, head of the satellite company Reflex Aerospace, also doubts that the Ukrainians would have found a way to maintain a stable connection between the satellites and the drones. The US military controls its drones via satellite internet. But there, the receivers are integrated into the aircraft from the outset and are not tinkered with afterwards.
The advantage of satellite control: “A radio connection goes towards the ground, the satellite connection is aimed at the sky – that’s much more difficult to disrupt,” says Florian Seibel, founder of the drone manufacturer Quantum Systems.
Expert: “Deep in a dilemma”
According to the terms of use, SpaceX could also take far more extensive action. These exclude the use of Starlink as a weapon or “in conjunction with offensive or defensive weapons”.
According to Handelsblatt information, Ukrainian soldiers use Starlink, for example, to pass on the coordinates of enemy vehicles determined by drones to the command. This is faster and less error-prone than via radio. Starlink terminals on the ground should also help Ukraine open fire faster and kill more Russian soldiers.
For the time being, however, it looks like SpaceX wants to overlook such scenarios. As Gwynne Shotwell told reporters, “We know the military uses them for communications, and that’s okay.” SpaceX probably wouldn’t even be able to check if a soldier was using the Starlink terminal to communicate to relay target coordinates to the artillery officer or to wish him good morning.
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The installation on drones, on the other hand, is a relatively straightforward case: The positions of the Starlink terminals are continuously transmitted so that the connection can be established, explains Clemens Kaiser, who is responsible for the program at Rivada Space and is working on setting up his own satellite constellation.
“I know where they are, I can see if they’re moving, I can tell if they’re flying,” he says – “I could even tell from the flight pattern if it’s an airplane, a helicopter, or a drone.” .” So SpaceX can easily detect and unplug its terminals used on drones from the internet.
With the terminals on the ground, SpaceX knows for sure whether they are on the battlefield or in a warming room. It can also see who is communicating with whom and how often. However, access to the content is taboo and the Ukrainian military is likely to encrypt its communications.
What’s next? Musk is already working on a military constellation
Accordingly, it would hardly be possible to filter out information relating to the use of weapons. “Starlink has obviously stretched the gray area a lot and is now deep in a dilemma,” says Kaiser.
The founder of SpaceX earns money from the operation of the satellite terminals donated to Ukraine. SpaceX wants $2,500 a month for each terminal.
(Photo: Reuters)
Interfering with communications at the front could be far-reaching. Ukrainians also use the broadband connection to upload videos. Their cell phone videos and footage from drone cameras are intended to discourage Russians, encourage their own people and inspire international solidarity.
Maybe it’s just a question of whether Russia can prove anything to Starlink. The “Starshield” project shows, for example, that it cannot be about Elon Musk’s fundamentally pacifist attitude. The US billionaire is currently building its own satellite constellation for the security sector.
At the same time, he is not free from financial interests in Ukraine either. In the fall, SpaceX is said to have disconnected 1,300 satellite receivers in the front area from the network because nobody wanted to pay the operating fees. A British company bought the terminals for Ukraine. But she was unwilling to pay the $2,500 per terminal that SpaceX is asking for each month. The costs are said to have added up to 20 million US dollars at the time.
More questions are raised about frontline casualties reported by Ukrainian soldiers in October. Accordingly, terminals failed when the Ukrainians invaded the area formerly occupied by Russians. When asked if SpaceX tried to limit offensive use at the time, manager Gwynne Shotwell said, “I don’t want to answer that because I don’t know if I know the answer.”
SpaceX has not yet answered a query from the Handelsblatt.
Cooperation: Felix Holtermann
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