CNN Exclusive: 'How am I in this war?': New Musk biography offers fresh details about the billionaire's Ukraine dilemma | CNN Politics
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Elon Musk secretly ordered his engineers to turn off his company’s Starlink satellite communications network near the Crimean coast last year to disrupt a Ukrainian sneak attack on the Russian naval fleet, according to an excerpt adapted from Walter Isaacson’s new biography of the eccentric billionaire titled “Elon Musk.”

of course he was afraid of russian nuukes. this only prompted Ukrainian engineers to bypass use of starlink entirely and current sea drones, like the one used in second Kerch bridge strike, or these used against SIG tanker and Olenegorsky Gornyak landing ship use domestic technology only

  • @gerikson@awful.systemsEnglish
    9•10 months ago

    Starlink causing a Kessler event and grounding all spaceflight would be delicious irony, but I believe their orbits are too low for this to be a problem. Instead they just annoy astronomers and Russians.

    • Jonathan Hendry
      4•10 months ago

      @gerikson

      On the other hand, Kessler wrote: “Some of the most environmentally dangerous activities in space include large constellations such as those initially proposed by the Strategic Defense Initiative in the mid-1980s”

      SDI’s Brilliant Pebbles originally proposed a 10,000 unit LEO constellation.

      Starlink is already close to 5,000, and Musk wants 30,000. Add in the Chinese effort estimated at ~13,000. OneWeb has 500-600 up there.

        • Jonathan Hendry
          4•10 months ago

          @gerikson

          “would pose minimal risk for launches continuing past LEO”

          I suppose so, and yet you could say the same about aircraft flying over the launch site on launch day. A collision is unlikely due to the speed of the rocket and the short time it would be at aircraft altitudes.

          But I’m pretty sure they still don’t want anyone flying over the launch pad.

      • Jonathan Hendry
        3•10 months ago

        @gerikson

        Even if it doesn’t rapidly degenerate into a full-blown Kessler Event, I’d have to think there’d be enough going on there to increase uncertainty and risk.