The far more expensive part, however, is the ongoing connectivity. SpaceX says it has paid for about 70% of the service provided to Ukraine and claims to have offered that highest level – $4,500 a month – to all terminals in Ukraine despite the majority only having signed on for the cheaper $500 per month service.
The terminals themselves cost $1500 and $2500 for the two models sent to Ukraine, the documents say, while consumer models on Starlink’s website are far cheaper and service in Ukraine is just $60 per month.
That’s just 1.3% of the service rate SpaceX says it needs the Pentagon to start paying.
It sounds like they sent some of their higher end business quality terminals and are wanting to upcharge the gubmint on this upgraded service, even though the folks on the ground didn’t ask for the primo service? I’m not sure how much of a difference the higher or lower level of service as the Starlink website lacks the relevant details.
Sigh go on then, I’ll materially intervene in a globally important conflict. I guess. You’re determining the fate of nations dude if even that bores you something has gone very wrong.
MDS definitely keeping people from seeing what actually happened here. SpaceX got rolled really hard here by the Pentagon/MIC and Elon’s own dumbassery. Somehow:
SpaceX invents a whole new kind of internet infrastructure and deploys it at immense expense.
The Ukraine war happens and SpaceX gets the Ukrainian army equipped on terms that are a little unclear, but likely less than full value.
The system is hugely successful!
The FCC yanks a huge rural broadband grant that went to SpaceX for no obvious reason.
SpaceX is stuck losing money on operations, and when they ask the Pentagon to cover the losses, the Pentagon selectively leaks a bunch of secret information to make SpaceX look bad.
Musk acts like a dumbass and now everyone thinks he’s a traitor.
Recently watched a couple of vids to better understand starlink. One was a guy in BFE showing setup and giving a review. It seems really good for rural broadband. Kinda curious what happened with the FCC.
So far roughly 20,000 Starlink satellite units have been donated to Ukraine, with Musk tweeting on Friday the “operation has cost SpaceX $80 million and will exceed $100 million by the end of the year.”
Documents obtained by CNN show that last month Musk’s SpaceX sent a letter to the Pentagon saying it can no longer continue to fund the Starlink service as it has. The letter also requested that the Pentagon take over funding for Ukraine’s government and military use of Starlink, which SpaceX claims would cost more than $120 million for the rest of the year and could cost close to $400 million for the next 12 months.
According to the SpaceX figures shared with the Pentagon, about 85% of the 20,000 terminals in Ukraine were paid – or partially paid – for by countries like the US and Poland or other entities. Those entities also paid for about 30% of the internet connectivity, which SpaceX says costs $4,500 each month per unit for the most advanced service.
So he has gotten paid for 85% of the terminals and 30% of the service already. He forgets to mention that. And he’s looking for $400 million to operate the 20,000 terminals for the next 12 months. That’s $20,000 per terminal. Pretty steep. I’m sure it’s invaluable for Ukraine though. The master at taking government money realizes he has a big fish on the line I’d say.
$60/mo based on their standard pricing. I doubt they offer any special sauce that increases their cost beyond double. Also, of those 20k units, how many are lost or damaged every month or are rarely used? How many systems are actually deployed on the battlefield, 5k, 10k?
$60/month is the consumer rate. It’s not relevant for military use. The bill for providing mobile, unjammable comms that don’t rely on any infrastructure within range of Russian cruise missiles for the entire government and armed forces of Ukraine is not $1 million a month, come on. $1 million a month wouldn’t cover the cost of the additional security engineers they need to keep the service up against Russian hacking and jamming.
I mean sure, Starlink is Iridium with 100x the capability and 100x the scale, but that makes Starlink bona fide internet infrastructure while Iridium is a niche service for situations where real internet isn’t available.
It’s a reasonable guess, but uniquely for a project in the Musk Cinematic Universe, Starlink is actually hitting its marks. The only detailed discussion I’ve been able to find about the FCC thing is Starlink’s appeal, which is obviously totally one-sided, but is reasonably persuasive:
If a person is openly excited about being in league with Kanye West today I think we can reasonably assume that they are on board with wild anti-semitism. There’s no way he doesn’t know what shit Kanye has been spewing.