Ukraine's Starlink connection is now in the hands of fate.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has recently asked the Department of Defense to fund Ukraine's Starlink satellite internet service as it, as a company, can longer afford it.
Elon Muska and SpaceX previously supported Ukraine with numerous Starlink terminals during the opening months of its conflict with Russia at the public request of the country's minister for digital transformation on Feb. 26.
Ukraine Starlink Support Details
Musk sent a letter to the Pentagon in September that SpaceX can no longer continue to fund Ukraine's Starlink service as it has. According to a CNN-exclusive report, this inability is due to the company not being in a position to donate any terminals to Ukraine or fund existing ones for an indefinite period.
SpaceX's CEO explained in its letter that he expects the cost of keeping Ukraine connected to its Starlink satellite internet service to reach more than $120 million for the rest of 2022. Additionally, Musk estimates that the cost will reach nearly $400 million if it continues to support Ukraine over the next year.
This value is in line with what Musk tweeted on Oct. 7 regarding the cost of keeping Ukraine connected to its Starlink satellite service, with it reaching over $100 million by the end of 2022.
As a result, Musk has seen no other option than to have the DOD foot Ukraine's bill in SpaceX's stead. However, Musk clarified in a tweet that SpaceX is not asking the DOD to recoup past expenses, and only wants the Department to pay for upcoming expenses as the status quo is "unreasonable."
Having the DOD paying Ukraine's Starlink bill will be quite the resource drain on the Department's resources. The US government, Poland, and other countries have fully or partially paid for around 85% of 25,000 Starlink terminals already in Ukraine, per The Verge.
These same countries are also paying 30% of the price of keeping these terminals connected to the Starlink satellite constellation, while SpaceX pays for the remaining 70%. However, SpaceX's woes about paying Ukraine's bill could be due to its decision of providing the country its top service, which costs $4,500 per month instead of the $500 per month service most Ukrainian users are asking for.
CNN also reports that two models of Starlink terminals SpaceX sent to Ukraine cost $1,500 and $2,500, but a quick visit to the official Starlink website showed that these models only cost $600.
Despite these increased prices, Musk tweeted that the company is still losing money while referencing CNN's article.
The DOD has yet to officially address Musk's letter in a statement.
A Musk-Ukraine Spat?
It is unknown if Musk is asking the Pentagon to foot Ukraine's bill out of necessity or out of animosity. Gizmodo reported that Musk seemed to imply he was following Ukraine's suggestion of "sodding off" after one of the country's officials told him to do that over the idea of Russia keeping Crimea over Twitter.
You may remember that Musk posted a poll wherein he suggested a set of peace terms between Russia and Ukraine. In Musk's peace terms, Russia gets to keep Crimea, which is a part of Ukraine annexed by Russia in 2014, while the other parts of Ukraine Russia recently annexed get to do annexation elections under UN supervision.
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