SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Rescues Ukraine’s Internet and May Save ISS

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk Rescues Ukraine’s Internet and May Save ISS

When the history of Russia’s detestable invasion of Ukraine is written, one of the leading figures is likely to be SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

Musk is now providing free satellite-based internet service in Ukraine through his company Starlink, as Russia invades the nation and causes power outages.

Starlink is a growing network of small satellites that SpaceX has been building out since 2018 to supply broadband internet access around the globe. On Monday, the Vice Prime Minister of Ukraine and minister of digital transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov, tweeted that a truck full of Starlink terminals had arrived on Ukraine soil, after he had requested them.

…Invading Russian troops have disrupted Ukraine’s internet infrastructure, making service unreliable and spotty in parts of the country.

The Starlink service, which its website bills as being “ideal for rural and remote communities” and other locales where internet connections have historically been unavailable, is expected to be more reliable than land-based systems that are currently out of service.

Given that this conflict is, among other things, a war being waged in social media, the importance of secure internet access is cannot be overstated.

In other invasion-related technical developments, Russia’s space chief Dmitry Rogozin raised the prospect of pulling out of the partnership in the International Space Sanction in response to US sanctions, allowing the 400-ton structure to come crashing down to Earth. By way of background, While the US side of the ISS supplies power and life support, Russia is responsible for propulsion and keeping the station afloat.

NASA is scrambling to find ways to achieve “operational flexibility“.

Kathy Lueders, who heads the agency’s human spaceflight program, told reporters on a call that operations on the research platform were proceeding “nominally” and “we’re not getting any indications at a working level that our counterparts are not committed.”

“That said, we always look for how do we get more operational flexibility and our cargo providers are looking at how do we add different capabilities,” she continued.

Musk then offered to use SpaceX to help keep the ISS in orbit.

In a series of tweets, Rogozin suggested the ISS could plummet from orbit if Russia withdrew its cooperation from the joint effort.

“If you block cooperation with us, who will save the ISS from an uncontrolled de-orbit and fall into the United States or Europe?” Rogozin tweeted in Russian, according to a translation. “There is also the option of dropping a 500-ton structure to India and China. Do you want to threaten them with such a prospect? The ISS does not fly over Russia, so all the risks are yours.”

Musk replied to Rogozin’s thread with an image of the SpaceX logo – and later confirmed his firm would step in to assist if Russia withdrew its support in a way that endangered the space station.

There was a discussion on Twitter that showed how SpaceX resources could be used.

Here is what the ISS would look like without the Russian Segment attached – in it's place, a Dragon could be docked to provide reboost capability and attitude control. pic.twitter.com/2Zvrotv2Zw

— Pete 🚀 🛰 (@Space_Pete) February 25, 2022

An International Docking Adapter (IDA) would need to be attached to Pressurised Mating Adapter-1 (PMA-1), which is where the Russian Segment is currently docked to. pic.twitter.com/LdX1SOd8NG

— Pete 🚀 🛰 (@Space_Pete) February 25, 2022

Recap – here's the three things that @elonmusk could immediately do to support ISS:

. Begin development of a propulsion package for Dragon's Trunk

. Begin an effort to certify Cygnus to launch on Falcon 9

. Accelerate efforts to increase Dragon's crew capacity to 7

— Pete 🚀 🛰 (@Space_Pete) February 26, 2022

I would like to conclude with a little geek humor:

It's like a comic universe crossover: Skeletor vs Iron Man

— wretchardthecat (@wretchardthecat) February 28, 2022

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