Morgan Wright and Michele Schneider offer their take on a possible Russian cyber threat and cyber security stocks on Making Money.
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk appeared unfazed when asked by Axel Springer’s Mathias Döpfner about the possibility that China or Russia could shut down the Starlink satellite system, which Musk has sent to Ukraine to help them counter Russian to help invaders.
Dopfner asked Musk in an interview for Business Insider if Starlink would be threatened if the Chinese and Russians started attacking satellites.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk attends the opening of Tesla’s Berlin Brandenburg plant in Grünheide on Tuesday, March 22, 2022. (Patrick Pleul/Pool via AP)
Musk said Russia’s anti-satellite demonstration in November was Moscow’s attempt to send a message before invading Ukraine. But he conceded that destroying Starlink, a network of about 2,000 satellites in low-Earth orbit, would not be an easy task.
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“If you’re trying to take down Starlink, it’s not easy because there are 2,000 satellites,” Musk told Döpfner. “That means lots of anti-satellite missiles.”
In this image illustration a Starlink logo of a satellite internet constellation being built by SpaceX is seen on a smartphone and PC screen. (Pavlo Gonchar/SOPA Images/Sipa USA)
He added, “I hope we don’t have to put this to the test, but I think we can launch satellites faster than they can launch anti-satellite missiles.”
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The Starlink system provides high-speed broadband internet by connecting to user terminals on the ground. According to internet monitor NetBlocks, Ukraine experienced intermittent blackouts as Russian forces invaded from the north, south and east.
Musk made Starlink stations available to Ukrainians in response to a call from Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov.
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Earlier this month, Musk warned Ukrainians that there was a high possibility that Russia would try to target Starlink and urged them to proceed with caution.
FOX Business’ David Aaro contributed to this report.