Elon Musk has played a key role in the war in Ukraine until now. His role is so big in fact, that in the past months he received threats to his life. Since eliminating him is out of the sane possibilities, Russia now makes a less serious threat. They will destroy all Starlink satellites.
A representative of the Russian government, Konstantin Vorontsov attended a United Nations working group meeting last week and used the opportunity to tell how Russia has had enough of Elon Musk, and how they will now ‘retaliate’ all Starlink satellites above Ukraine.
Russia Threatens To Destroy Elon Musk’s Starlink Satellites
Konstantin Vorontsov previously served as a Deputy Director of Russia’s Foreign Ministry Department. He is a person that built his career in the Russian government and he is a sounding name in Russia’s diplomacy. At the meeting, he didn’t specify, Elon Musk, SpaceX, or Starlink by name, but generalized the threat.
“We would like to underline an extremely dangerous trend that goes beyond the harmless use of outer space technologies and has become apparent during the events in Ukraine. Namely, the use by the United States and its allies of the elements of civilian, including commercial, infrastructure in outer space for military purposes.” – Vorontsov said.
“It seems like our colleagues do not realize that such actions in fact constitute indirect involvement in military conflicts. Quasi-civilian infrastructure may become a legitimate target for retaliation.” – Konstantin added. “At the very least, this provocative use of civilian satellites is questionable under the Outer Space Treaty, which provides for the exclusively peaceful use of outer space, and must be strongly condemned by the international community.”
Elon Musk most probably noticed the ‘threat’ and as usual, took to Twitter to tweet about it.
“Starlink is meant for peaceful use only.” – Musk’s tweet reads.
To get a grasp of the magnitude of help to the Ukrainian army by the Starlink satellites you need to realize that they didn’t have any means of communication. Elon Musk supplied them with 12 000 Starlink dishes until now, and he hinted that he will continue to do so. Thanks to Elon Musk numerous civilian areas, hospitals, residences, businesses, and police stations enjoy high-speed broadband. But, nobody can hide the fact that Starlink is used by the Ukrainian army as well. They use Starlink for sending encrypted messages and to control drones that attack the Russian forces.
There have been numerous soldiers and people involved in the war that expressed their gratitude to Elon Musk. The supply of Starlinks throughout the war. They confirm that they wouldn’t have been able to defend themselves as they did without the internet connection brought to them by Starlink.
The seriousness behind Russia’s threats remains unclear. However, it is highly likely that they will take some measures against it as it is massively affecting their advancements. In November, Russia tested an anti-satellite missile which showed to be effective.
For the test, Russia aimed at one of its own satellites. Even though they managed to destroy it, the outcome was far bigger than that. The destruction resulted in thousands of pieces of metal across the orbit. The pieces present a potential danger to anything that will find itself in their path.
From the United States, there has been a fiery reaction to the test. They condemned Russia for the tests pointing out that space belongs to the world as a whole. Creating metal debris like this is endangering space for everyone.
The Russian government doesn’t hide the fact that they also try to hack Starlink. Back in February Russia launched a cyberattack that took down internet service for a brief period.
However, SpaceX has not been the only company that helped the Ukrainians fight their war. Numerous other commercial satellite imagery companies, such as Planet, Maxar, and BlackSky helped Ukraine by providing similar services. They provide satellite images to the Ukrainian government revealing the position of Russian forces and their tactics.
The satellite imagery companies also share the images from the war scenes with the world. The reason for sharing is to boost awareness of what is happening. To show the world the extent to which the situation develops in certain ‘hot’ areas. For example, these images also helped spread the information to the world that the Ukrainian attack on Crimea did much more damage than the Russian officials reported.
The Russian officials at the United Nations meeting continued their warnings against adopting “fragmented, non-inclusive rules for regulating space activities that do not take into account approaches of all UN Member States and seek to ensure space dominance of a small group of states.”
They urged the United Nations members to “focus on assuming national and international obligations. To not place weapons of any kind in outer space (including in orbit around the Earth and on celestial bodies). And to prohibit the threat or use of force against or with space objects. Russia asks for an introduction of a ban on strike weapons in outer space for use against space objects.”
At last, the anti-satellite missile tests that Russia performed give SpaceX a complete right to sue Russia. Kremlin breached “international space law called the United Nations Outer Space Treaty”. The treaty suggests countries be extra careful when flying anything in space. It warns countries to use space responsibly, and most importantly, in harmony with others. Destroying satellites in space is a neither responsible thing to do, nor extra careful.
Finally, the space is no one’s belonging. It is to the whole world. As such, all countries should respect the laws and guidelines established. Breaking these laws can only slow down the advancement of technology in the world. And that is something that we do not want to happen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GF25vrmm8m0
