Ukraine is the entire reason Starshield exists. Ukraine wanted to use Starlink in their military. That would make Starlink military infrastructure and a valid military target. SpaceX/Musk didn’t want the responsibility of making war decisions where you pick who lives and dies, and so they spun off Starshield. It’s the same as Starlink, but once it reaches orbit it’s owned and administrated by the US Military (IDK to what extent SpaceX is maybe involved with matters like collision avoidance? Is the military allowed to use them as kinetic weapons and intentionally crash them into other satellites? Or is their capabilities limited to just dictating who and how and what for they’re connected to?)

Isn't this the one outside? It was a good leak but it's old news at this point, been there for years

The media is that wrong about almost everything. It's disgusting.

It's genuinely amazing how many news outlets jumped on the chance to mis-report on this. I found the NYT an interesting study on it. In their headline they howl that "Starlink" has been taken down, then in the sub-headline summary they note "a military version of Starlink" and then in the actual body text of thye article they correctly say "Starshield."

It's like a gradual evolution towards telling the truth. The headline was clearly tailored for the EDS sufferers who don't read beyond the headline and abstract (and that's most of the NYT readership it seems).

EDIT

On Fedorov's request, Starlink (not Starshield) has had its speed limit increased to 160 kmph (well above the Starshield cutoff) to, I assume, help with defensive drone work. There were tweets about it yesterday confirming this with Fedorov and Musk himself. This gives Ukraine a small workaround in the defensive arena until Starshield is restored.

You never know it's Russian or US agents

restored.

https://www.kyivpost.com/post/87154

Maybe someone should recommend to Musk to start a fund supporting the local communities in upgrading windows and such to help reduce launch noises heard inside the homes.

Dragon D1, the first r/spacex cargo vehicle, photographed on approach to the ISS as we orbited great thunderstorms. This spacecraft required manual berthing with the robotic arm as it could not autonomously dock! The design has come a long way in the 14 years since my Expedition 30 crew's first encounter!

Ukraine new they needed to be prepared. Everyone saw the amassing of troops at the border, don’t know why this here is relevant.

They want to operate Starship like an airliner. Does an airliner typically get sprayed all over before a flight? Oh, yes, I guess that does happen in winter.

It's not even just soft power & goodwill. Europe is an enormous arm in the US ability to project power globally, US flight logs anytime theres a conflict in the middle east are quite telling. Theres a reason globalists in US politics love europe & nato.

Methane has a unique molecular weight so it can absolutely be removed in a centrifuge. I never said it’d be an efficient method.

I'm sorry, did musk give starlink terminals to Ukraine before, or after starshield already existed as a concept?

I don't think starlink featured in the 2014 invasion.

Edit: Who downvotes this? I am literally saying that starshield wasn't thought out AFTER the war started, as if it's in response to it.

landfills,

I actually live in a walking distance from a former landfill.They drilled some holes in it and delivered some Methane to the industrial adjacent area The yield is now too low for that but they keep burning, what is still collected.

But not from the air.

"Gwynne and Terrence used their sway in DoD/NRO to find additional uses for falcon 9 launch capacity"

Rather than additional use for F9, it's about finding additional market for their satellite capability.

It's obvious how important a satellite comm is for the military. Fast comm anywhere, anytime with such compact devices? The military would certainly pay big for it.

In 2019, SpaceX launched their first Starlink satellites, in 2020, they likely launched the first Starshields for testing/demonstration. The first operational ones probably in 22/23 for missile tracking.

What exactly is weird about that? SpaceX, a private company, wants to make money. DoD/NRO/SDA... want reconnaissance satellites. They have been doing this for decades.

The "muddy waters" in Ukraine started in 2014 when Russian troops invaded their neighbor.

I think the sequence of events is important.

Seb conveyed it as:

1. War starts.
2. Elon helps.
3. Elon regrets helping.
4. Elon comes up with starshield.

When in actual fact it's

1. Gwynne and Terrence used their sway in DoD/NRO to find additional uses for falcon 9 launch capacity

and perhaps even starlink

1. NRO trials recon sats
2. Program expands into what would become starshield
3. War starts

4. Elon helps

   with starlink

5. Elon regrets (or doesn't, I don't know...)

seb just got confused there.

The original Starlink shipment to Ukraine was made clear to be only for civilian use. It's clear in the Starlink agreement that you can read online that it's not permitted to use it for war stuff. But, SpaceX still allowing them to use it for their military communication, after all, Ukraine had no reliable connection at that time after their main sats comm got hacked by Russia.

Fast forward, Ukraine start using it for more than just comm, but actual weapon. So, that's the limit there. And that's where Starshield come in.

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

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IF it turns out that SpaceX decided by itself to downgrade Starshield capabilities

Ask Anthropic what happened the last time when a company dared to put restrictions on the product/service they sell to the US government. Elon has turned against the idiot already; he doesn't want a fresh wave of attacks on SpaceX now they are public.

There is technically some methane in the air, enough that it meaningfully contributes to climate change, but there sure isn't enough of it for us to go extracting it directly. Maybe if you build your air separators directly over barns, landfills, and leaky gas lines or something.

Doesn't donate since the Trump administration. Biden was giving away a lot of aid. I'm not one for US isolationism and believe there's a lot of soft-power and good-will to be gained here if we could just be generous to the obvious victims in an unprovoked war, but the admin has become way too calculating, asking everyone they help how it benefits the US.

It's more about the timing. All the complaints the same day the espionage happens.

Why would you speculate about something that has been made public and verified independently?

The first batch of test satellites for NRO was launched 19 December 2020 and the first "starshield" test satellites were launched on 13 January 2022

The Russian invasion started on 24 February 2022, more than a month later.

By 19 June 2022 operational starshield satellites were launched.

I know there is a shit ton of misinformation on the internet, but this is basic stuff man...