Elon Musk enabled his satellite internet to help Ukraine

Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, contacted Mykhailo Fedorov, Minister of Digital Transformation in Ukraine, to inform him that they have already activated the Starlink Internet satellite signal in his country and that more terminals are on the way to help Ukrainians face the Russian invasion.

Initially, the minister had asked the billionaire from his Twitter account to send a Starlink Internet signal to Ukraine, assuring that while he was worried about reaching Mars, many people were dying.

” @Elon Musk, while trying to colonize Mars, Russia is trying to occupy Ukraine! While its rockets are successfully landing from space, Russian rockets are attacking the Ukrainian civilian population! We ask that you provide Ukraine with Starlink stations and head over to sane Russians to stand up,” the Ukrainian minister wrote.

Almost 11 hours later, the billionaire picked up the glove and responded in the same way, assuring that Starlink was already active in Ukraine. ” Starlink service is now active in Ukraine. More terminals on the way,” Musk announced.

As expected, Elon Musk‘s response was well received and Fedorov immediately responded by thanking him and everyone who has joined in helping Ukraine in this time of crisis. ” Starlink terminals are coming to Ukraine! Thank you @Elon Musk, thank you to everyone who supported Ukraine!” the minister celebrated.

Likewise, the Minister of Digital Transformation thanked the Ukrainian ambassador to the United States, Oksana Markarova, for her agile work that allowed Starlink‘s operating permits to be certified in record time.

Starlink is based on a network of small satellites that are intended to cover practically the entire Earth – except for the poles. If the project comes to an end, during this decade it will have 12,000 satellites in orbit, although the service began in 2021 with a first phase of 1,500. So far, 1,137 devices have been launched.

However, Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX currently has about 2,000 Starlink satellites in orbit around Earth at a height of 550 kilometers (340 miles).

In early 2020, Elon Musk ‘s company began launching Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit to offer broadband internet. This January 20, it launched another 60 satellites from the Kennedy Center to offer internet access from low earth orbit, completing the seventeenth mission of the program.

With this action by Elon Musk , Ukrainians ensure they have the Internet at a crucial moment, especially after the fear of losing the service if local signal providers were physically attacked.