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SpaceX shut down Starlink satellite internet service to Ukrainian submarine drones last year just as they launched an attack on Russia’s Black Sea Fleet, according to a new biography by SpaceX founder Elon Musk.
The new details of the previously reported incident underscore how dependent the U.S. government has become on a company that once had to fight in court to become part of the Washington establishment.
The armed submarine drones were ready to attack the Russian fleet, according to a CNN report, which cited an excerpt from an upcoming biography of Musk by Walter Isaacson, a former CNN CEO and editor of Time magazine. Instead, says the book, which goes on sale Tuesday, the drones “lost connection and washed harmlessly ashore.”
According to the report, Ukrainian and American officials sought to restore service and contacted Musk directly. Musk finally agreed.
But the account of the incident is a reminder of how SpaceX – and its founder – gained enormous power and influence while its competitors proved unable to keep up with the dizzying pace of innovation. The Influence shows how difficult the balance must be between governments and companies when they innovate faster than their competitors – or the government itself.
“One of the benefits is the tremendous amount of innovation from the private sector that the government wants to leverage to stay ahead of China and others,” said Brian Weeden, director of programming at the Secure World Foundation. “The downside is that it gives much more power to the private sector and particularly to the billionaires who control these companies and technologies.”
SpaceX’s Dragon capsule is the only way for NASA to send its astronauts to and from the International Space Station. It launches sensitive national security satellites for the Pentagon and the National Reconnaissance Office. It launches more rockets than any other company or country — already this year it has surpassed its previous year’s record of 61 — and operates more satellites than any other company on Earth, more than 4,500 in orbit.
SpaceX began providing Starlink internet service to Ukraine after the Russian invasion, creating a lifeline for the country when its communications systems were largely offline. But according to Isaacson’s book, Musk became increasingly concerned that the Ukrainian military was using them for offensive purposes, the CNN report said.
“How am I doing in this war?” Musk asked,” Isaacson said. “Starlink was not intended to be involved in wars. It was for people to watch Netflix and relax, get online for school and do peaceful things, not drone strikes.” ”
In February, SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell told reporters something very similar.
“We were very pleased to be able to provide connectivity to Ukraine and support her in her struggle for freedom,” she said. “It was never intended to be used as a weapon, but the Ukrainians used it in a way that was unintentional and not part of any agreement.”
Since reports emerged last year that SpaceX had shut down satellite communications in Ukraine, the Pentagon has awarded SpaceX a contract. The details of the contract are not known — on Thursday, Pentagon spokesman Jeff Jurgenson declined to provide further details “due to the critical nature of these systems.” However, Weeden said signing a deal with Starlink should allow the Pentagon more control and potentially prevent the service from suddenly shutting down again.
“That’s the balance that the Defense Department has to deal with when it focuses on this commercial technology: Does it lose control in any way?” Weeden said. But the government is not helpless and has options to rein in companies: “Many of these concerns can be addressed through contractual mechanisms or other legal arrangements,” he said.
When SpaceX first launched its Starlink constellation, Musk said the chances of success were not guaranteed. Other satellite companies had tried in the past and failed given the tremendous cost of launching and operating hundreds or thousands of satellites. But largely because SpaceX is vertically integrated, meaning it not only builds the satellites but also launches them itself on its reusable Falcon 9 rocket, the company has been able to thrive so far.
The constellation is used not only in Ukraine, but also to connect remote communities. It has been an important part of recovery efforts from hurricanes and other natural disasters where connectivity has been disrupted.
When SpaceX launched Starlink, others were also eyeing the satellite internet market. Musk said at the time: “It’s always good to have competition.” But Starlink has now overtaken its competition.
Another satellite provider, OneWeb, went bankrupt, then recovered to operate a much smaller network. Amazon plans to launch thousands of satellites, but has yet to send a single one into the air. It also faces a lawsuit from one of its shareholders, who alleges the company “acted in bad faith” when it awarded launch orders to other commercial companies, including Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, but not SpaceX.
“Although SpaceX is the launch vehicle vendor with the best proven track record and lowest prices in the industry, it appears that Amazon did not consider it,” the lawsuit reads. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
SpaceX is also NASA’s sole provider of crew transportation to the space station. But that’s not because NASA just awarded a contract. Two awards were made specifically to allow the companies to compete against each other, reducing costs and increasing reliability. But the other company that gets an order, Boeing, hasn’t flown astronauts yet and may not do so until next year, leaving SpaceX as the sole bidder.
“SpaceX has been truly innovative in several key areas, in launch and in broadband internet for large constellations – two things that people have long dreamed of but have tried and failed before,” Weeden said. “SpaceX managed to make it a reality. Many other industries will soon see breakthroughs that will lead to more competition. And the innovative technology is spreading across several companies. But in SpaceX’s case, we haven’t seen any competitors that have managed to do what they can.”
This dominant position was not easy. SpaceX was initially excluded from the Pentagon’s launch contracts and had to sue the Air Force in order to compete. It also fought to win NASA as a customer and is now one of the space agency’s most trusted partners.
Much of this success is due to Musk himself, who works tirelessly and also pushes his teams to overcome seemingly insurmountable odds. One example is building rockets that fly into space and land safely there so they can be reused, especially as many Musk had said was impossible. Another thing was building a constellation of thousands of satellites. Both were achieved relatively quickly, which is part of the SpaceX ethos.
“You can always be faster than you think. Without a doubt,” said Kiko Dontchev, vice president of launch at SpaceX, during a recent conference presentation. “There is always time to win. There are always improvements in efficiency. Do you think you went fast enough? …You can drive faster. Every time my team says, ‘Dude, we can’t go any faster.’ You say, ‘Yeah, you can.’ Move the goalposts. You’ll be surprised what happens when you challenge people.”
SpaceX has also had success with so-called fixed-price contracts, in which the contractor must absorb any cost overruns. Traditionally, major Pentagon contracts were under “cost-plus” contracts that allowed companies to get a refund if they exceeded their bid. Critics argued that this stifled innovation and allowed companies to move forward slowly.
The Space Force is also banking on SpaceX and its Starship, which once it flies will be able to launch massive amounts of mass into orbit. And it has praised SpaceX for keeping its Starlink constellation online even as Russian jammers were able to disrupt other networks.
“The quality of the connection is excellent,” Ukrainian Digital Transformation Minister Mykhailo Fedorov told The Post last year. “We use thousands – almost thousands – of terminals, and new shipments arrive every other day.”
Missy Ryan contributed to this report.