SpaceX’s largest shareholder Elon Musk has confirmed a CNN report that he doesn’t want to continue paying for the Starlink satellite communications service crucial for Ukraine’s Army.
In Twitter, he wrote that SpaceX is not seeking to recoup past expenses, but that it is “unreasonable” to continue supplying Starlink units to Ukraine and paying for expenses of “data usage up to 100X greater than typical households.”
SpaceX is not asking to recoup past expenses, but also cannot fund the existing system indefinitely *and* send several thousand more terminals that have data usage up to 100X greater than typical households. This is unreasonable.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2022
In addition to terminals, we have to create, launch, maintain & replenish satellites & ground stations & pay telcos for access to Internet via gateways.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2022
We’ve also had to defend against cyberattacks & jamming, which are getting harder.
Burn is approaching ~$20M/month.
Also, Starlink is still losing money! It is insanely difficult for a LEO communications constellation to avoid bankruptcy – that was the fate of every company that tried this before.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) October 14, 2022
When asked what the goal of Starlink was at a space conference, I said “not go bankrupt”.
Musk asks Pentagon to pick up the bill for Starlink in Ukraine – CNN
What’s wrong with Elon Musk’s tweet on Ukraine
