The House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party sent a letter on Saturday to SpaceX and Tesla CEO Elon Musk demanding that U.S. troops stationed in Taiwan get access to SpaceX’s Starshield, a satellite communication network designed specifically for the military.
The letter, obtained by CNBC and first reported by Forbes, claimed that by not making Starshield available to U.S. military forces in Taiwan, SpaceX could violate its Pentagon contract, which requires “global access” to Starshield technology.
On an active battlefront these territories aren’t strictly defined or are changing quickly. With that methodology if Ukrainian advanced too quickly into what was previously Russian territory, bam - Starlink stops working. That seems undesirable
Sorry… you’re saying that SpaceX can’t just turn access on and off whenever they feel like it? Like my ISP can if I don’t pay my bill?
Coordinating with the Ukrainian military would be enough to tell them what to turn on and off.
Starlink terminals in Ukraine didn’t come from one source. some have been donated by orgs in the US and other countries, some the government, some SpaceX themselves. Ukraine almost certainly doesn’t have full knowledge of all the Starlink terminals it possesses. This isn’t an ideal environment
So you are again saying that Elon can’t do what he already did- not allow access in certain locations.