Space for Ukraine: The People’s Satellite and Starlink in Action
10 months ago this week, Russia started a full-scale war in Ukraine, with the world following the progress in every detail. One of the tools used to follow what is happening in the war is satellite observation. Since the beginning of the war, Groundstation.space has been publishing articles about the relevance of satellite technology in conflicts.
22,000 Starlink Terminals for Ukraine
A memorandum on cooperation in the field of digitization was signed between Ukraine and Austria at the end of November.
Ukrainian Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov met with the State Secretary for Digitalization and Telecom of the Ministry of Finance of Austria, Florian Tursky. At this meeting, the ministers discussed cooperation and knowledge sharing about access to high-speed Internet, e-government, digital startups, and the needs of the telecom sector.
Restoring communication in the de-occupied and front-line territories is a priority for Ukraine. Starlink terminals and equipment to power them continue to be a critical piece of the solution.
Austria has expressed its willingness to provide servers and telecom solutions, in addition to providing Ukraine with more Starlink terminals.
Starlink in Ukraine: Speed-tests, Interruptions and Alternatives
Ukraine is now using over 22,000 Starlink terminals, supporting critical infrastructure and restoring communication in newly liberated territories.
And this week, according to Ukrniform.net, Ukraine has reached a deal with Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. to receive more than 10,000 Starlink antennas to help counter Russian air attacks.
2,600 units of military equipment were discovered and confirmed by the People´s Satellite
Last month, the Defence Intelligence authorities of Ukraine, reported how the satellite, purchased through crowdfunding earlier this summer, is performing:
“The Defence Intelligence of Ukraine conducted a space radar reconnaissance of about 150 enemy locations, both in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine and in the territory of the occupier and its allies. This became possible thanks to cooperation with the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation, which put the ICEYE satellite at the disposal of Ukrainian intelligence officers, as well as contractual access to the database of the SAR satellite constellation.
In the analysis of data about 2,600 pieces of military equipment were discovered and confirmed. Ukrainian intelligence was also able to locate several Russian Iskander, S-300 and Pantsir-S1 anti-aircraft missile systems, enemy radars, pontoon crossings, boats, and tents.
The data obtained with the help of a satellite made it possible to effectively determine the hidden location of the enemy in forest plantations, in any weather and at night.
The ‘People’s Satellite’ – A citizens’ satellite for the war in Ukraine
The ‘People’s Satellite’: the Ukrainian crowdsourced satellite
How Satellites Affect the War
The war in Ukraine has been a clear showcase for growing military reliance on satellites and has created incentives to disrupt opponents’ access to space systems, Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations of the U.S. Space Force, said on 3 December, according to SpaceNews.
SpaceNews reports that Saltzman’s two main takeaways from the war in Ukraine are that the value of space “has been proven out,” and that space is “clearly a contested domain.”
#StandWithUkraine
From the first days of the invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine, we have been informing you about the use of satellite data during the war.
Check out all articles on this topic on our dedicated page.
Featured Image credit: Freepik
Edited: Remco Timmermans