Comment by siliconc0w
8 hours ago
It's not great that they found starlink terminals on Russian drones (they've since tried to lock them down more).
These should be export controlled and geo-locked as they are arguably much more powerful than any missile.
Starlink recently implemented new rules for satellites that travel more than 100mph. Service is deactivated unless they have a valid government ID and an aircraft's tail number attached to the account. While both can be faked, you could arguably correlated a provided tail number with ADS-B data because anyone with a Starlink is likely also broadcasting ADS-B. But it also provides a bit of 1:1 correlation on satellites and there is a finite number of tail numbers out there.
They also jacked up the subscription price which caused thousands of actual pilots to cancel their service. So expect a flood of used Starlink Minis to enter the market soon.
I thought Starlink doesn't allow you to move your terminal at all with the basic plan, and there's a premium plan where you can move it, but still can't use it, unless you stop?
You aren’t supposed to move the terminal on a residential plan, but there are plans for RVs, boats and planes that allow you to change location and/or use while in motion.
I had the RV plan when they said it would not work in motion, but it worked pretty well on the highway anyway.
SpaceX already does geo-lock them to an extend. But the terminals are exported to so many countries that any meaningful controls are impossible.
Terminals in Ukraine are whitelisted (with whitelist being supplied by the Ukrainian MoD). Meaningful controls are possible, it's what led to the ukrainian forces advancing and liberating territory recently.
You missed my point. It's impossible to meaningfully control the export of physical terminals. But as I pointed out above, SpaceX has already been doing some geo-locking.
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The terminal knows where it is at all times.
I know this is a meme but for those at home the whole point of a war is to cross over the front line into the opponent's territory and capture it. If your comms are disabled when you cross the front you can't really fight. So "just disable Starlink within Russian territory" does not solve anything.
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The Starlink terminal can't know based on only its position which side it's being used by. Equipment is often used in enemy territory.
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Yes but the problem is that the battle lines are fluid and the drones are obviously aiming for the Ukrainian side.
It knows this because it knows where it isn't. By subtracting where it is from where it isn't
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I think what's actually funnier is that the satellite shooting the laser has to know where the terminal is with pin point accuracy too. So it's pretty easy to cut off targeting to a vast chunk of the planet.
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How does radio transmission with fast moving targets work (including LTE on phone), doesnt the doppler effect shift the frequencies of all radio waves?
Cappy army on YouTube had an interesting analysis on the starlink usage in russia.
https://youtu.be/Fpt8dYAwK7c?si=x5pp9vfKdwXM947c
Not only that. It seems to have been more Russian starlink terminals than Ukrainian ones.
Nowadays Starlink terminals to operate in Ukraine they have to be approved so right now Russians cannot waste them anymore on drones as it's much harder getting one working (in the past they have been).
Especially in light of that early war elon confession about disabling terminals mid Ukraine op.
Another not great data point is https://militarnyi.com/en/news/ukraine-starlink-data-traffic...
"Starlink satellite traffic in Ukraine fell by about 75% after SpaceX shut down its terminals in the occupied territories of the country."
By now it came to light russians for example had starlinks on every assaulting tank in addition to long range drones.
.gov allowed Russian military to become reliant on Starlink, then cut it off.
That was a deliberate tactic; Government is not leaving the fate of nations in the hands of Elon Musk alone.
Yes. Their brilliant 5D chess moves I can see at the gas station every day. Their long term plan is clearly to drive everyone away from the fossil industry and towards renewables.