As you may already be aware, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk responded to a tweet early this week telling officials in Ukraine that SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet is active in the country, and that more terminals were already "en route."
Despite skeptics claiming Musk was using the invasion of Ukraine as a publicity stunt, the terminals arrived in the country in less than 48 hours. Moreover, the technology is apparently working as advertised, and officials in Ukraine have thanked the CEO for his assistance.
Since then, Musk has been tweeting about the situation, which comes as no surprise. It seems when the vocal CEO has his mind wrapped around something, he often obsesses over it, and not necessarily in a bad way. It wasn't long ago that Musk admitted on live TV that he's got Asperger's syndrome, and just this week, he, once again, brought attention to his claimed "multiple personality disorder."
The tweet above was just one of many reportedly typed by Musk himself this week. It was in response to President Biden's continued praise of Tesla's rivals. However, that tweet thread was a very far cry from the other, arguably much more helpful and important thread about Starlink in Ukraine.
Now that the Starlink terminals have safely arrived in Ukraine and are reportedly being used successfully, Musk is providing more details, as well as offering some insight, warnings, and tips.
Musk claims that Starlink is basically the only communications system Ukraine can safely rely on now, and it's likely to be hacked. He added the following tweet replies:
As more people tuned into Musk's tweets about Starlink internet in Ukraine, there were plenty of questions. One Twitter user asked if the technology could really be under the threat of a Russian cyberattack. Musk clarified that it did already happen to all Viasat Ukraine user terminals on the first day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Is there anything Musk or SpaceX can do to ensure that Ukraine can continue to safely use Starlink internet amid further attacks? While we have no way of knowing for sure, and Musk didn't make any specific claims, he did respond to another tweet with just two words: "Game on."
What does this mean? No one can really say for sure, though it appears Musk is planning to work with SpaceX to make it more difficult for the Russians to attack Starlink and render it inoperable. While the most important part here is that Musk is personally involving himself and his company to help Ukraine, SpaceX will likely benefit from this unexpected, real-world test of Starlink internet's security features.
In a related tweet, Vice Prime Minister and Minister Digital Transformation for Ukraine Mykhailo Fedorov thanked Musk. He also steered the tweet in the direction of other major companies, asking for their help, too. There's also a second tweet reply from Musk about SpaceX helping Ukraine with civilian internet outages.
Musk replied with measures SpaceX is already taking to improve the Starlink internet system on the fly. Of course, these updates are possible via over-the-air software updates, much like Tesla's cars and home energy equipment.
How about that TIME Magazine Person of the Year award now? Start a conversation in the comment section below.
