Scivillage.com Casual Discussion Science Forum

https://dailycaller.com/2022/10/14/musk-...expensive/

EXCERPTS: [...] SpaceX told the Pentagon in a September 8 letter that the program would cost $400 million through the next 12 months, requesting the Department of Defense pick up the tab as well as cover ongoing maintenance costs, according to documents obtained by CNN.

“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,” Musk said in a tweet early Friday morning, responding to the CNN report.

[...] The communications struggles have made it more difficult for Ukrainian forces to advance, with one anonymous source telling the outlet that “Starlink is the main way units on the battlefield have to communicate.”

[...] SpaceX has thus far donated 20,000 Starlink units to Ukraine, according to CNN, which Musk claimed “has cost SpaceX $80M & will exceed $100M by end of year.”

[...] “Let’s be honest,” said Podolyak on Twitter. “Like it or not, [Elon Musk] helped us survive the most critical moments of the war. Business has the right to its own strategies. [Ukraine] will find a solution to keep [Starlink] working. We expect that the company will provide stable connection till the end of negotiations” (MORE - missing details)

20,000 units at $100* a month each equals $2,000,000 per month, so one year would equal $24 mil. That would leave a shortfall of $56 mil which would imply that each initial unit cost is being retailed at $2,800. In the US each unit is being retailed at $599.

That would imply that $2,201 is the cost to transport per base unit from the US to the Ukraine...

I guess Twitter cost more than it's worth.

Further to that admittedly his initial involvement started the ball rolling for China to consider methods of how to hit such networks (both through hacking and physical attacks)

* monthly price has RRP less

if the usa pay for the user charge subscriptions they will get it tax free
they can put it into lend lease

but i would want to be sure that star link will continue to operate in ukraine before handing off millions to the richest man in the world

split between the 5 richest men in the world it is pocket change for them

I believe that part of the cost to SpaceX of the Ukrainian Starlinks is that the Russians are continuously trying to jam, intercept or hack them, with increasing success. SpaceX has been successful (pretty much) in battling that, but it's consuming more and more of the company's resources.

SpaceX has no obligation to provide Ukraine with secure, unjammable satellite communications at its own expense. It's been doing so largely from a sincere desire to help when the Ukrainian government asked them to. But given recent events, maybe it's time for someone else to bear the burden. (The US government can certainly afford to pay for it.)

(Oct 15, 2022 06:39 AM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]I believe that part of the cost to SpaceX of the Ukrainian Starlinks is that the Russians are continuously trying to jam, intercept or hack them, with increasing success. SpaceX has been successful (pretty much) in battling that, but it's consuming more and more of the company's resources.

SpaceX has no obligation to provide Ukraine with secure, unjammable satellite communications at its own expense. It's been doing so largely from a sincere desire to help when the Ukrainian government asked them to. But given recent events, maybe it's time for someone else to bear the burden. (The US government can certainly afford to pay for it.)

usa could go 50/50 with the EU

(Oct 15, 2022 08:43 AM)RainbowUnicorn Wrote: [ -> ]

(Oct 15, 2022 06:39 AM)Yazata Wrote: [ -> ]I believe that part of the cost to SpaceX of the Ukrainian Starlinks is that the Russians are continuously trying to jam, intercept or hack them, with increasing success. SpaceX has been successful (pretty much) in battling that, but it's consuming more and more of the company's resources.

SpaceX has no obligation to provide Ukraine with secure, unjammable satellite communications at its own expense. It's been doing so largely from a sincere desire to help when the Ukrainian government asked them to. But given recent events, maybe it's time for someone else to bear the burden. (The US government can certainly afford to pay for it.)

usa could go 50/50 with the EU

Considering that it would be a monopoly just to pay Starlinks fee, it would more likely mean that Europe would rather use its own network over Musks if its asked to pay.

"Elon Musk said in a tweet Saturday that his company SpaceX would continue to fund Starlink satellite internet terminals for the Ukrainian government as it battles invading Russian forces.

“The hell with it,” the billionaire tweeted, “even though Starlink is still losing money & other companies are getting billions of taxpayer $, we’ll just keep funding Ukraine govt for free.”

It was not immediately clear whether Musk, who is also the CEO of Tesla
, was being sarcastic. In response to a tweet about the move, Musk said, “we should still do good deeds.” Responding to another tweet saying that Musk had already paid taxes that are funding Ukraine’s defense, he said, “Fate loves irony.”"

https://www.cnbc.com/2022/10/15/elon-mus...-free.html