Musk cuts off internet to Ukraine’s military while it’s attacking Russia’s fleet

According to a CNN report citing excerpts from an upcoming biography of Musk by Walter Isaacson, a former CNN CEO and Time magazine editor, armed submarine drones are already available. ready to attack the Russian fleet. Instead, according to the book that went on sale on Tuesday, the drones “disconnected and washed ashore harmlessly.”

According to reports, Ukrainian and US officials are trying to restore service, appealing directly to Musk. Musk finally agreed.

But the retelling of the incident is a reminder of how SpaceX — and its founder — amassed enormous power and leverage as competitors proved incapable of keeping up with the pace of change. just dizzy. That thing Influence reveals a delicate balance that governments must navigate when companies innovate faster than competitors – or the government itself.

“One of the advantages is the huge amount of innovation coming from the private sector that the government wants to leverage to stay ahead of China and other countries,” said Brian Weeden, director of program planning at the Secure World Foundation. other”. tank. “The downside is that it gives more power to the private sector and especially to the billionaire individuals who control those companies and technologies.”

SpaceX’s Dragon capsule is the only way NASA can get its astronauts to and from the International Space Station. It launches sensitive national security satellites for the Pentagon and Office of National Reconnaissance. It launches more rockets than any other company or country – this year it surpassed last year’s record of 61 – and operates more satellites than any other entity on Earth, more than 4,500. in orbit.

SpaceX began providing Starlink Internet services to Ukraine after the Russian invasion, creating a lifeline for the country when the country’s communications systems were largely down. But according to Isaacson’s book, Musk is increasingly concerned about the Ukrainian military using them for offensive purposes, as CNN reports.

According to Isaacson, “How do I do in this war? Musk asked. “Starlink is not meant to fight wars. It’s so people can watch Netflix and relax and go online to school and do peaceful things, not drone attacks. “

In February, Gwynne Shotwell, the president and CEO of SpaceX, told reporters the same thing.

“We are really happy to be able to provide connectivity to Ukraine and help them in their fight for freedom,” she said. “It was never intended to be weaponized, but the Ukrainians took advantage of it in ways that were unintentional and not part of any agreement.”

Since reports of SpaceX shutting down satellite communications in Ukraine last year, the Pentagon has granted SpaceX a contract. The details of the contract are still unknown – on Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Jurgenson declined to say more “due to the critical nature of these systems”. But Weeden said placing Starlink on a contract would give the Pentagon more control and could prevent the service from suddenly shutting down again.

“That’s the balance the Department of Defense faces when it comes to focusing on this commercial technology: Does it lose control in some way?” Weeden said. But governments are not powerless and there are ways to rein in companies, “You can address a lot of those concerns through contractual mechanisms or other legal agreements,” he said.

When SpaceX first launched the Starlink constellation, Musk said the chances of success were not guaranteed. Other satellite companies have tried and failed in the past because the cost of launching and operating hundreds or thousands of satellites is enormous. But largely because SpaceX is vertically integrated, meaning they not only build the satellites but also launch them themselves on a reusable Falcon 9 rocket, they have been successful so far.

In addition to being used in Ukraine, the constellation is also used to connect remote communities, and it is an important part of storm recovery efforts as well as during natural disasters. Otherwise, the connection will be lost.

When SpaceX founded Starlink, other companies were also eyeing the satellite internet market. At the time, Musk said: “It’s always good to have competition.” But Starlink has far outstripped the competition.

Another satellite provider, OneWeb, went bankrupt but has since recovered and operates a much smaller network. Amazon plans to launch thousands of satellites but has yet to send a single one. It is also facing a lawsuit from one of its shareholders, who accuses the company of “bad faith” in awarding rocket launch contracts to other commercial companies, including Blue Origin of Jeff Bezos, not for SpaceX.

“Despite being the rocket supplier with the most proven track record and the lowest prices in the industry, SpaceX appears to have received no consideration from Amazon,” the lawsuit alleges. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)

SpaceX is also the sole supplier to NASA of crew transport services to the space station. But that’s not because NASA only awarded one contract. It gives two special awards to companies that compete with each other, reduce costs and increase reliability. But the other company that won the contract, Boeing, has yet to send any astronauts and may not until next year, leaving SpaceX as the sole supplier.

Weeden said: “SpaceX has really innovated in a number of key areas, namely the launch and development of mass broadband Internet – two things that people have long dreamed of but have previously tried and tested. failure”. “SpaceX tried to make them a reality. In many other industries there were breakthroughs soon after, which further encouraged competition. And this innovative technology is becoming more and more popular in many companies. But in the case of SpaceX, we have yet to see a competitor that can do what they can.”

That position of dominance did not come easily. SpaceX was initially locked out of a launch contract with the Pentagon and had to sue the Air Force to be allowed to compete. It also struggled to win NASA as a customer and is now one of the space agency’s most trusted partners.

A big part of that success comes from Musk himself, who works relentlessly and pushes his teams to work through seemingly insurmountable difficulties. Building a rocket that can fly into space and then land safely so it can be reused is an example, especially as many people have told Musk that’s impossible. Building a constellation of thousands of satellites is another. Both were completed relatively quickly, which is part of the SpaceX ethos.

“You can always go faster than you think. Put your hands down,” Kiko Dontchev, vice president of launch for SpaceX, said during a presentation at the recent conference. “There is always time to achieve. There are always effective results. Think you’re going fast enough? … You can go faster. Every time my team says, ‘Man, we can’t go any faster.’ You’ll say, ‘Yes, you can.’ Move the goalposts. You will be surprised what happens when you challenge people.”

SpaceX also thrives on operating under fixed-price contracts, in which contractors must accept any excess costs. Traditionally, major Pentagon contracts operate on “cost-plus” contracts, which allow companies to be reimbursed if they exceed bids. Critics argue that has hindered innovation and allowed companies to move slowly.

The Space Force is also heading to SpaceX and its Starship, which when in flight will be able to lift a huge mass into orbit. And they praised SpaceX for keeping its Starlink constellation online even as Russian jammers could interfere with other networks.

“The quality of the link is excellent,” Ukraine’s digital transformation minister, Mykhailo Fedorov, told The Post last year. “We are using thousands — in the region of thousands — of docks, with new shipments arriving every day.”

Missy Ryan contributed to this report.