32 Comments

THANK YOU AUTHOR! Can you ask the author to speculate on how difficult it would be for Ukraine to use/switch to Eutelsat? Maybe just add a paragraph? I don't see Ukraine losing Starlink. As Stefan pointed out, Musk can't afford to lose any more paying customers ;)

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Erm... yes, I can, and will do... but, I think he's not in position to answer such questions.

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Yeah, but it would be good for Musk to lose even more business. Take more and more $ out of his pockets whenever possible if only to drive him out of his current bipolar-ridden preoccupation with politics.

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OK, here it is:

Theoretically: yes.

40,000 terminals are ready for delivery. Must be brought to Ukraine and then connected, though. Takes (lots of) money and political will....

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If the EU doesn't have "political will" now, they never will ;) You must have some examples in military history where a country was cut off from a technology only to develop their own that was cheaper and better. Wait, we do have that...Ukrainian cruise missiles ! :) I also wonder if fiber is getting cheaper from its use in drones. Why couldn't Ukraine link many of its bases using fiber. Probably already are.

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Bases, yes - they'll mostly be linked with fibre, though it is quite likely that some links are still copper.

But satellite communication is crucial for for positions in or near the front lines - these tend to be temporary / mobile, and unless buried fibre is way too vulnerable - and even if buried, artillery will break it.

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Do you know if they're using meshtastic?

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No, sorry.

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I’m probably woefully behind the times but I recall Musk providing Starlink equipment and services to Ukraine (government) at no cost. He also wanted to prohibit its use for weapons control- I don’t know if that was ever effected. For all practical purposes the two systems appear to be technically equivalent but there was no mention of comparable cost or adaptability of the ground equipment.

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some starlink contracts were paid by us government, most are paid by soldiers themselves

musk didn't provide shit for free

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Elon often offers Starlink for free in difficult or emergency situations.

Mostly in reality, that turns out to be the first month's usage is free, but people still have to pay the installation fee and pay for subsequent months

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yeah it's all just bullshit PR

too bad the US courts were corrupt back in 2019 when they acquitted him of defamation charges

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From their website, Eutelstat appear to be UK based, with a listing on the London Stock Exchange. This should make them less susceptible to pressure from the US Administration to cut off services to the Ukrainians. Apart from the issue of whether or not Musk can afford to lose customers, there is a question mark over how secure the Ukrainians' information is.

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Thank you for this Tom, that’s the right level of detail for us ‘normals’!

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So the trouble over s’link is possibly containable. If so, a relief

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Too much duplication for the text to be readable

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I’ve spent this evening reading more and more depressing accounts of what the Euros can do in the face of this desertion by the Americans. This article proves that substitutes for some American equipment is possible but that’s only part of the story, I fear

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Thanks for the information. I think Ukraine should start getting the Eutelstat, but if Musk doesn’t stop todays use we’ll continue to use his system. And they are paying as far as I know. He is loosing enough customers as it is I think.

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Appreciate the technical overview. Very timely.

I’d have to be desperate to use Starlink or any other service run by Adolph Musk.

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Here you can find more detailed capacity comparison between Starlink and OneWeb for Ukraine: OneWeb substituting Starlink over Ukraine

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/oneweb-substituting-starlink-over-ukraine-carlos-placido-u5kaf?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_android&utm_campaign=share_via

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In addition good podcast on the topic: https://www.podbean.com/ep/pb-5sy8b-182fd56

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A note: EU has announced the start up of its own constellation, named IRIS². It'll be similar to OneWeb, judging from the technical details announced so far.

The (very) optimistic plans call for operation of the constellation in 2030. One problem is the high cost of launching by Ariane 6 rockets, but unfortunately Arianespace and the EU haven't managed to develop a reusable launch system yet.

Amazon is also expecting to start launching satellites for the project Kuiper this year, they'll have a very hard time achieving the minimum amount of satellites operating within their deadline

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1dEdited

Moin, Tom, für den autor C.M. bzw. für deine leser gibts zusatzinfos.

* nichts zu danken, gern geschehen😊🫡

"STUDIE | GUTACHTEN

Realisierungsoptionen einer angemessenen Versorgung über Satellit im Kontext des novellierten Universaldienstes.

Fraunhofer-Institut für Integrierte Schaltungen IIS

Projektnummer: 044-240135

Projektpartner: Bundesnetzagentur"

https://data.bundesnetzagentur.de/Bundesnetzagentur/SharedDocs/Downloads/DE/Sachgebiete/Telekommunikation/Unternehmen_Institutionen/Grundversorgung/gutachten_fraunhofer_satellitenfunk.pdf

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Dankeschön!

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Thanks

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Excellent detail, good work to the author 👍

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Seems like EUtelsat is a better solution and more secure anyway if built for businesses than Starlink. Seems like that’s a sort hobby level connection made cheaply for mass production. Ukraine would be better off, with more secure comms, given that Musk will just sell Starlink to the Russians now.

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What you've read is an advertisement processed by "AI". The main reason OneWeb is for businesses - they couldn't develop it enough to sell to individuals with a reasonable price model, especially in Europe, with plenty of other options. It doesn't say anything about specific usability for Ukrainian military goals, and it will be significantly, as in multiple times, more expensive per link than Starlink.

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good writeup, we may need more of this. How quickly can Ukraine move to Eutelsat.

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