The appeal was urgent, and the answer was not long in coming: Mykhailo Fedorov contacted Elon Musk on Saturday.

“While you are trying to colonize Mars, Russia is trying to occupy Ukraine,” wrote Ukraine’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Digital Transformation, “while your missiles land successfully after returning from space, Russian missiles are attacking the Ukrainian civilian population.” His urgent request: Musk, who is keeping an eye on other planets in space while offering wireless Internet reception with thousands of satellites in near-Earth space, may also send the required Starlink receiving antennas to Ukraine.

"The Starlink system is now also active in the Ukraine," was the reply less than eleven hours later.

Fridtjof Küchemann

Editor in the Feuilleton.

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Designed to offer an alternative to wired connections in areas with underdeveloped Internet infrastructure, Starlink looks like the ideal support for a country at war whose terrestrial Internet infrastructure is being attacked by the enemy.

But even if Starlink allows its users to be independent of the cable network, operation is by no means unconditional.

While television reception works with geostationary satellites whose position in relation to the earth remains the same, each Starlink system independently searches for a satellite for transmission and changes it when another is in a more favorable position.

The key for this has to be mounted in the open air and needs electricity – ten times that of a conventional router.

In Germany, the version for private use costs 500 euros, and the monthly service costs 100 euros.

The offer has been available from us for almost a year, last autumn Spacelink announced nationwide availability.

Some things are unclear

Since the beginning of February, Elon Musk's space company Space X has also been promoting a premium offer from Starlink for "users with the highest demands".

With high utilization, premium customers, who the company imagines as “small offices, shops and super users around the world”, are to be given priority bandwidth when utilization is high.

The equipment promises improved reception, greater independence from weather conditions and twice the transmission rate - at five times the price.

The call for help from Ukraine and its prompt response raise organizational questions: To whom should the Starlink installation kits be delivered?

How are they supposed to reach their goal?

How many should it be?

How many can there be, and in what timeframe can Musk deliver?

What should they cost and how should they be paid for?

Who should get the devices that arrive first, how is the distribution organized and prioritized?

How can the bowls, easy targets in the open air, be protected from targeted shots?

Is it easy to change your location?

In Germany, for example, an application must be made if an owner wants to move his key.

For people who may have to flee, such a restriction of mobility would be a severe handicap.

Elon Musk's reaction is as powerful as it is obvious: Among his many projects, Starlink can use positive headlines particularly well.

There have been plenty of negatives lately: the huge number of satellites has repeatedly become dangerous to other missiles in low-Earth orbits – including manned space stations.

According to a study by the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, every single day 2.2 tons of material are accumulated from Starlink satellites that are ready for the scrap heap.

Aluminum oxide is produced during rocket launches and when satellites burn up, which could cause temporary holes in the ozone layer and increase the Earth's reflectivity.

The US Federal Communications Commission FCC has licensed the operation of twelve thousand Starlink satellites.

The company wants to expand the inventory to more than forty thousand flying objects.

A court hearing is now underway to determine whether the FCC would need to comply with a National Environmental Policy Act when allowing three thousand satellites into lower orbit.

Acknowledging the validity of the Satellite Licensing Act could have far-reaching implications for Starlink's plans.

In addition, in the United States, the Internet received via Starlink slowed down a little in the third quarter of last year compared to the previous quarter.

The reason for this could be the increasing number of users.

Elon Musk likes to present himself as a doer.

He rarely misses an opportunity to show what his companies are willing to do.

In view of the invasion by the Russian army, the fact that Starlink can deliver what it promises for the Internet supply in Ukraine is an existential question for the people there.