The publication notes that six years ago there were less than 2 thousand functional satellites in the orbit. However, throughout the pandemia of the Covid-19 and subsequent years, SpaceX continued to launch them, and now the land has been surrounded by more than 7 thousand satellites of the Starlink network. This number is overshadowed by the fleet of satellites of all other private companies and national states combined, and almost every week Musk replenishes it, putting dozens of satellites into the sky.
Cosmos historian Jonathan McDowell, who is leading the Earth's online realist, said that this is a unique situation. According to him, there was such a precedent, but only one: Sergey Korolev, a Soviet engineer, who developed a “satellite” and its launch vehicle. “From 1958 to 1959, when no one else had satellites in orbit, Korolev was the only guy in the city,” he said.
The ability of a mask to provide such an important service as the ability to coordinate actions in the conflict zones, gave it an unprecedented geopolitical influence for a private person, the newspaper writes. It is reported that the Pentagon officials had to “bow to the mask” after he threatened to limit the Starlink services for the Ukrainian military. As the director of the Aerospace Research company Quilty Space, Kimberly Simberly Berke, Musk is not just a tycoon, but “the one who can click the switch and solve the outcome of the war.”
Political leaders around the world understand that the dominance of Starlink will be difficult to change, because SpaceX has an unsurpassed ability to produce satellites and launch them into space, the publication writes. According to reports, the company is able to produce at least four huge satellites per day, and the reusable Falcon 9 rocket can carry more than 25 satellites per launch.
Pentagon leaders know that this is a problem, or at least once knew, it is noted in publication. At the end of the reign of the administration of the previous US President Joe Bayden, the US Space Forces published a new strategy that ordered politicians to avoid excessive dependence on any one company. But this was before the Ministry of Defense was controlled by the current president Donald Trump, whose close associate is Musk, emphasizes The Atlantic
Context
After the start of the full-scale invasion of the aggressor country of the Russian Federation to Ukraine in 2022, Ukraine received Starlink terminals, which communicate to the Ukrainian military and residents of the de-Ukrainian settlements.
In 2024 it became known that Russia also uses Starlink communication systems. At the same time, SpaceX said that they were not doing any business with the Russian government or military.
Military intelligence of Ukraine reported that the use of Starlink invaders It acquires a systematic character. According to her, The Russian Federation purchases communications, including Starlink terminals in Arab countries.
February 22, 2025 Reuters published material that that the American side allegedly threatens disconnection of Ukraine from Starlink, if Kyiv does not sign US Participation Agreement in the development of minerals. Mask He called this information “lies.”
February 23, head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umarov He stated that there is an alternative to Starlink.
European governments seek to reduce their dependence on the United States, including satellite communications on Starlink, a mask belonging to the mask, the publication wrote on April 13 The Wall Street Journal.
