“Musk has taken on the role of apologist for indicted war criminal Vladimir Putin. “There is no way in hell that Putin is going to lose,” Musk said during an audio event on X. Musk called on social media followers to lobby the Senate not to pass an aid package for Ukraine. Further, Musk is actively working to thwart US foreign policy. Musk is certainly entitled to voice his opinions. However, he is not authorized to conduct foreign policy with FCC issued licenses. This is especially true when his use of those licenses supports the military of a foreign power that is actively engaged in an illegal war and has engaged in countless war crimes including routinely targeting hospitals, schools, and apartment buildings. Musk’s company is licensed to serve the public interest, convenience, and necessity. Musk cannot use FCC licenses to militarily aid Russia, a state that is subject to U.S. sanctions. Musk’s repeated abuse of the Starlink system has placed these licenses in jeopardy.”
-Portion of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America’s (UCCA) filing with the Federal Communications Commission on April 24, 2024. The UCCA represents four fraternal organizations – the Ukrainian National Association, the Ukrainian Workingmen’s Association, the Providence Association of Ukrainian Catholics, and the Ukrainian National Aid Association.
Last year we learned that Elon Musk denied the Ukrainians access to Starlink when operating in the occupied portions of their country. He stated he did not want to be “complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.” And yet now we learn that Russia may be using Starlink in this same territory to illegally attack Ukraine, and Mr. Musk seems flustered and cannot seem to believe it is even possible.
It is unlikely that SpaceX is unable to determine where its equipment is being operated and whether it is being used by an invading party to suppress a sovereign nation. Mr. Musk has done a lot of good for Ukraine, yet his statements about Ukraine’s need to give up territory and now this kerfuffle seem to be part of his improper straying into world affairs that are not his affairs. Maybe it is time for the U.S. government to get involved if he is allowing an enemy to use his equipment to destroy a U.S. ally.
When asked about this Russian misuse issue, SpaceX stated:
If SpaceX obtains knowledge that a Starlink terminal is being used by a sanctioned or unauthorized party, we investigate the claim and take actions to deactivate the terminal if confirmed.
Let’s hope this is the case. It may not be an easy task to sort out the users if both Ukranian and Russian troops are operating in the same area, but it may be critical to the survival of Ukranian forces at a time that Washington is sitting on its hands and incapable of assisting Ukraine nor its NATO partners depending on such assistance.
These are bleak times for Ukraine. It would be unfortunate if all the good will Starlink has acquired is erased with this misdirection of company assets.
Note: Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger tweeted, “Why is @elonmusk shilling for Russia now> Why is he still a US govt contractor?” None of this is good for Musk, SpaceX, or America.
Update: Now we read that Elon Musk may be blocking Taiwan’s use of Starlink. I thought the US government was running Starlink under a separate program called Starshield. Mr. Musk really needs to be taken out of the equation.
Starlab Space, the joint venture developing the Starlab commercial space station, has selected SpaceX’s Starship to launch the station on a single flight. Starlab Space, a joint venture of Voyager Space and Airbus Space and Defence, announced Jan. 31 it reached an agreement with SpaceX to launch the Starlab station on Starship. The companies did not disclose terms of the agreement or a projected launch date, although a spokesperson for Starlab Space said the company was confident that Starlab would be launched before the decommissioning of the International Space Station, currently scheduled for 2030.
Alexander Grebenkin, a former Russian military officer and current Roscosmos cosmonaut, is set to travel to the International Space Station as part of the NASA team, as announced on the NASA website, where Ukrainians have commented their outrage. NASA, in collaboration with SpaceX, plans to launch Crew-8 to the International Space Station no earlier than Thursday, Feb. 22.
The European Space Agency (ESA) has launched what it says is the “first metal 3D printer” to be hosted on the International Space Station (ISS).While plastic 3D printers have been used aboard the ISS since 2014, a machine that prints stainless steel would be new and could allow astronauts greater self-sufficiency, including the ability to make complex metallic structures in orbit, as well as at future Moon and Mars bases, ESA said Jan. 30.
Image (Credit): Contrast between two views of the lunar surface from June 27, 2020, and Aug. 24, 2023, which is before and after the crash of Russia’s Luna-25 spacecraft. (NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center/Arizona State University)
If President Putin wanted to leave a mark, he has done so on the Moon. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has apparently located the spot where the Luna-25 spacecraft crashed, as shown in the before and after shot above.
Given that craters can last for billions of years on the Moon’s surface, we can rest assured that the Russians have made an indelible mark on a distant land.
Russia, let’s call it a win and recall those troops from Ukraine.
By the way, maybe we should call the new crater Putin’s Sunset.
Image (Credit): Earlier SN10 Starship prototype bursting into flames and exploding soon after landing. (NASASpaceflight)
Last week, The Wall Street Journal had a good story on Elon Musk titled “Elon Musk’s Latest Antics Have Some Asking: Is He Out of Touch?” It discuses his frat-like behavior challenging Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg to a fight, his strange behavior at Twitter, and the shrinking set of friends and colleagues able to keep him from going adrift in his own bubble. The story notes:
Such antics are leading some Musk supporters to worry aloud that he has lost touch, saying he is ensconced in a distorted reality that is warping his perspective and threatening his businesses at a time when he is trying to oversee multiple companies in different industries.
Of course, one of those companies is SpaceX, which has become the backbone of NASA and the US satellite industry. SpaceX also runs Starlink, which is now a key part of the battle against Russia as it supplies Internet services to the Ukrainian military.
Musk has styled himself as the Trump of Technology – breaking established rules, failing to pay his bills, attacking critics (in-house, as well), and generally seeing what he can get away with before it all collapses.
Can one distracted man manage all of these companies? Should one distracted man manage all of these companies? And should our government be so reliant on him in the space and defense arenas? Or is SpaceX becoming the next Wagner Group, a government-funded satellite that is starting to think it is smarter than its paymaster? We all know how that ended.
We’re talking about Elon – again – but this time we’re looking at the big picture: the tech titan’s “unprecedented power” over our the federal government and national security, as encapsulated in Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ronan Farrow’s latest New Yorker profile. William Cohan, a financial journalist and founding partner of Puck News, also joins to break down the varying fortunes of SpaceX, Tesla and Twitter, and the sustainability of those companies under a leader that is ambitious, but capricious. Stay til the end to hear Kara tell Nayeema why, despite his shenanigans, she still has empathy for Elon Musk.
You should also check out Ronan Farrow’s The New Yorker article, “Elon Musk’s Shadow Rule.” While acknowledging that some industrialists have had inordinate influence over US politics in the past, the piece notes:
But Musk’s influence is more brazen and expansive. There is little precedent for a civilian’s becoming the arbiter of a war between nations in such a granular way, or for the degree of dependency that the U.S. now has on Musk in a variety of fields, from the future of energy and transportation to the exploration of space.
This really doesn’t sound all that sustainable, or wise. I hope Uncle Sam has a Plan B should Musk run it all into the ground or walks away with all of his marbles (assuming has has any left).
Our Awesome Universe 