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EU to help Ukraine replace Musk’s Starlink (www.politico.eu)
submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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The European Commission is figuring out how it could help Ukraine secure satellite communication capacity in the wake of Elon Musk reportedly threatening to pull Kyiv's access to his Starlink network. Space-based communication systems are a critical tool for Ukraine, but it remains unclear whether Musk will continue to offer Starlink as the war grinds on. Ukraine said last year it has about 42,000 Starlink terminals in operation in the country; about half are financed by Poland.

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[–] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago (15 children)

Unfortunately Europe has no competitior at present but more importantly they’re a long way from having a suitable (reusable, rapid cadence) launch vehicle. Ariane 6 is still not ready for prime time, the launch cadence can’t touch SpaceX, and the costs are higher. https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/07/europes-first-ariane-6-flight-achieved-most-of-its-goals-but-ended-prematurely/

I’d leave Starlink in an instant if there was a reasonable alternative.

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