Russia plans to build own version of US billionaire’s satellite communications to help attack Ukraine
Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk’s genius and said he was in touch with Starlink’s controlling shareholder as Russia develops its own satellite communications for its military to use against Ukraine.
The Russian president, speaking at a summit with African leaders in Moscow, was comparing the Earth-orbiting network built by Musk’s SpaceX with Russia’s gradual efforts to build its own Rassvet constellation.
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© Photograph: Maxim Shipenkov/Reuters
© Photograph: Maxim Shipenkov/Reuters
© Photograph: Maxim Shipenkov/Reuters
Russia plans to build own version of US billionaire’s satellite communications to help attack Ukraine
Vladimir Putin praised Elon Musk’s genius and said he was in touch with Starlink’s controlling shareholder as Russia develops its own satellite communications for its military to use against Ukraine.
The Russian president, speaking at a summit with African leaders in Moscow, was comparing the Earth-orbiting network built by Musk’s SpaceX with Russia’s gradual efforts to build its own Rassvet constellation.
Continue reading...
© Photograph: Maxim Shipenkov/Reuters
© Photograph: Maxim Shipenkov/Reuters
© Photograph: Maxim Shipenkov/Reuters
Elon Musk vuole acquistare una città in Mississippi: si chiama Southaven, ospita una centrale elettrica fondamentale per alimentare i data center della sua intelligenza artificiale, e da alcuni media americani è stata già ribattezzata “Elonville“. Il piano del miliardario prevede l’acquisto di 418 case a un prezzo di mercato di 180.000 dollari; come parte della compravendita è previsto anche un accordo con i proprietari in cui rinunciano a partecipare a una causa legale contro l’azienda. Diciotto proprietari avrebbero già accettato.
La proposta indecente di Musk agli abitanti di questo piccolo centro è: vendetemi le vostre case e trasferitevi altrove. E non è neanche una di quelle offerte che non si possono rifiutare. Pare, infatti, che il miliardario non voglia andare oltre il prezzo di mercato, 180.000 dollari. Secondo quanto riferito dal sindaco della città, le case serviranno ad accogliere il personale di xAI, la società di intelligenza artificiale di Musk confluita in SpaceX a febbraio che sta vivendo una fase di espansione rapidissima nell’area.
Negli ultimi due anni, infatti, l’azienda ha realizzato tre data center tra Southaven e la vicina Memphis, in Tennessee. Ed è lì che Musk trascorre almeno tre notti a settimana, dormendo in un caravan, nemmeno di super lusso, per supervisionare direttamente il progetto. D’altra parte Musk ha investito circa mezzo miliardo di dollari per sostenere l’elezione di candidati repubblicani negli ultimi due cicli elettorali e il suo fervore per i data center è condiviso da Donald Trump e dalla sua amministrazione.
Non si può invece dire che i residenti di Southaven siano entusiasti. Per quanto alcuni abitanti siano propensi ad accettare l’offerta dell’uomo più ricco del mondo e lasciare la città, altri intendono dare battaglia. A giugno tre residenti della zona, esasperati dal frastuono causato dai lavori di espansione dell’impianto di xAI, hanno intentato una causa, lamentando “rumori costanti, vibrazioni e altri disagi” a causa delle turbine a gas necessarie per l’alimentazione.
L'articolo Elonville, la città che Musk vuole comprare per i suoi data center dell’intelligenza artificiale proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Once our eyes adjusted to the aggressive glare of the freshly painted white walls around the yard, we began to make out figures, dozens of them dressed in navy blue, clinging to the inner walls of this surreal space.
It was a scorching June day in western Ukraine, and we
Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images
United Airlines CEO Scott Kirby believes passengers are more interested in Starlink than ticket prices when picking which airline to fly with.
"I think Starlink, behind the schedule, is the most important thing for customers to choose an airline now," Kirby told the "Cheeky Pint" podcast on Tuesday's episode.
United is leading the way in the US in installing Starlink, the high-speed WiFi service from Elon Musk's SpaceX. The airline was one of the first to sign up in 2024 and has since equipped almost half of its planes with Starlink.
While Starlink is on all United's regional airplanes — those operated under the United Express brand — it is on less than 3% of its wide-body jets that fly long-haul routes, according to the airline's tracking tool.
Some travelers are choosing flights on these smaller regional airplanes to ensure they can access Starlink, Kirby told "Cheeky Pint."
Kirby said that when passengers told him this, his reaction was: "Holy cow!"
He also recalled booking a recent flight and ensuring he wouldn't be in the air when the Milwaukee Brewers were playing, so he could watch the game on TV. "Whereas if I had known for certain that my flight was going to have Starlink, I would have booked it during the game," he added.
American Airlines has also made a deal with Starlink, but it is not due to begin installing the terminals until early next year. Delta Air Lines has instead signed up for Amazon Leo, a similar service due to launch in 2028, which has attracted considerable criticism from Musk.
Although Musk has called for Delta CEO Ed Bastian to be fired, Kirby disagreed. "He's not going to lose his job over it," he said.
However, United is trying to win over Delta customers who might want Starlink. This month, it ran a promotion offering to match travelers' loyalty status on Delta or American, advertising "the fastest WiFi in the sky."
Thousands of customers signed up within two weeks, United said, and status match applications were up 275% compared to before the campaign.
"We're going to get customers that have been loyal to other airlines that try us for Starlink and stay because the technology is better," Kirby told the podcast.
While he called Starlink "the biggest competitive advantage," he also said it won't last forever.
"Everybody eventually is going to have high-speed, low Earth orbit. It's going to be a must-have."
A test satellite for a future communications network under Ukrainian control is working in orbit, Ukraine’s Himera and Denmark’s GomSpace said on 27 October. The companies say it will work for Ukraine’s strategic security, and that the long-term aim is to rely less on foreign communications providers. Public launch records for the mission do not list a satellite by that name, though some of its objects are still unidentified.
Ukraine fights Russia on satellite links it doesn’t control, and the announcement comes two weeks after it saw what depending on an outside provider can cost. The satellite, the companies say, went up on 1 October, before that trouble began. Overnight on 14 October, Starlink and its military version, Starshield, began dropping links on fast-moving terminals, and Ukrainian officials said the cap disrupted drone missions. On 24 October, 10 days after the cap began, Ukraine’s Defense Ministry reported speeds restored. Who ordered the cap remains contested. That same day, Elon Musk wrote that Ukraine’s military had violated Starlink’s terms of service and that “that loophole was closed last week,” a claim a Ukrainian presidential adviser disputed.
Obria Nano flew on SpaceX’s Transporter-18 rideshare mission, the release said. Aalborg-based GomSpace built it on Himera’s order, Himera co-founder and CEO Misha Rudominski wrote on Facebook. He added that the team received the first signals the next day and that the satellite is now working. Its tests are meant to inform the design of the full Obria system, the release said.
No satellite called Obria Nano appears on SpaceX’s published list for the mission, The Insider found. Public tracking catalogs show one Ukrainian satellite from that launch, named UASAT-Nano. Another 26 objects from the mission are still listed with placeholder names and no confirmed owner. The outlet said it is unclear whether the two names refer to one satellite.
UASAT-Nano is the satellite network Stetman, another Ukrainian company, is building, and its founder said the network’s first test satellite would launch in October. In April, Stetman and GomSpace agreed to set up a joint venture called UASAT and planned a first launch for fall 2026. The Obria release does not mention Stetman or UASAT.
Rudominski wrote that Himera’s next stage is to produce satellites and ground terminals in Ukraine. He called it important not only to use the technology but also to gradually build domestic expertise and manufacturing.
“For us, this project is about more than launching a satellite. It is an opportunity to lay the foundation for an independent communications network for Ukraine,” Rudominski said in the release.
In the long run, the network would cover all of Ukraine and complement European satellite networks, the release said. The network does not exist yet, and Himera has given no timeline.
Replacing Starlink will not be quick. Lance Hunter, a political scientist at Augusta University, told Time that Ukraine cannot quickly swap out such technology, since diversifying it “takes a lot of time. It takes a lot of resources.” Meanwhile, one Ukrainian interceptor-drone maker has begun rethinking its air-launched designs after the slowdown.
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