100721 a day ago

What is the specific use case you have in mind?

  • michaelt a day ago

    Given that the blogger is based in Kiev, Ukraine? Good chance this goes on some sort of long range, Predator-style drone.

    • neilv a day ago

      I hope that the engineers and scientists contributing to asymmetric warfare technology there aren't designated high-value targets by the adversary.

      Wouldn't publicity paint a target on one's back?

      • stephen_g 21 hours ago

        Seems likely, just a risk one has to take if you want to actively contribute to a war effort...

    • burnt-resistor a day ago

      I wonder how SL plans vary in Ukraine / for use in Russia. Assuming US-like pricing and limitations, for low speed drones, this would work. The gotcha is that for jet or fast prop drones in the 250-478 kts range requires a very expensive aviation plan assuming it's similar to US plans.

      • dylan604 a day ago

        Could that not also be part of the support being provided to Ukraine in that those prices are not the same as some commercial account? At the end of the day, the billing department could just not issue the bill, or any other method of meaning Ukraine isn't paying for it.

    • tomaskafka a day ago

      I am not sure - afaik there is a speed limit (assumption of satellite visibility and specific latency?) over which starlink won’t work, right? It can however be useful for getting the internet without announcing yourself to a swarm of drones?

      • gruez a day ago

        >I am not sure - afaik there is a speed limit (assumption of satellite visibility and specific latency?) over which starlink won’t work, right?

        The author's youtube channel also contains a video of him doing a speedtest on a starlink mini while driving on a highway.

      • michaelt a day ago

        Starlink satellites orbit at 17,000 miles per hour, so I doubt receivers lose signal just from going at a few hundred miles per hour.

        Unless there's a software limit built in that turns them off, or the drone's doing some crazy high-G-force acrobatics.

    • mft_ a day ago

      Wouldn’t this give Starlink the ability to track and/or turn off operations in real time?

      • michaelt a day ago

        Yes, you may recall some controversy a few years back when Musk made some threats along those lines.

        There are alternatives if you only need short range, or if you can tolerate high latency. And of course there are fire-and-forget cruise missiles that don't need communications at all.

        But there aren't all that many other options. Historically, satellite internet companies like Iridium, Globalstar and Teledesic have not fared well.

      • mattmaroon a day ago

        Yes but they’ve mostly not been doing that (they probably are selling a lot of dishes) and what’s the alternative?

    • codedokode a day ago

      Russians also use Musk's satellites and might find the information useful.

      Also as I understand, satellites do not work over Russian territory so guess where this can be used.

      • Andrew_nenakhov a day ago

        Actually, they do work is Russia. You need account registered in some allowed country and also use RV plan (or maybe it is called 'roam' now). I know some ppl who use it. Was thinking to get one myself, to have a reliable bypass of pathetic russian firewall.

    • littlestymaar a day ago

      Maybe just for front-line deployment, it would suck to be targeted by a glide bomb because the Russians located some WiFi signal.

  • [removed] a day ago
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rozhok a day ago

Starlink is already used for «Nemesis» night bombers as well as «Magura» sea drones.

justsomehnguy a day ago

[flagged]

  • wat10000 a day ago

    [flagged]

    • mattmaroon a day ago

      I like guns when they are used to stop a school shooter, but not when they are used by a school shooter.

      • justsomehnguy a day ago

        Guns, just like a StarLink terminals are a mere tools.

        Some people are totally okay when the tools are used the way they like. Unsurprisingly they are quite vocal about how these tools are bad when they are used not the way they like.