Why is Elon Musk talking to Vladimir Putin, and what does it mean for SpaceX?
arstechnica.com
NASA chief says ties between SpaceX CEO and Putin should be investigated.
  • Burn_The_Right@lemmy.worldEnglish
    121·
    3 days ago

    So… he coordinates with Putin, yet supplies internet to the Ukranian military via an arrangement with the U.S. military.

    Explain how Elon is not an international security threat. How do we remove this cancerous cyst?

    • ptfrd@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      314·
      3 days ago

      How do we remove this cancerous cyst?

      I think your username gives us a clue what you would do to Musk and others if you ever gained any power.

      I would entrust the wellbeing of humanity to him, over you, without hesitation. We had enough of your type in the 20th Century, thanks.

      • ptfrd@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        16·
        3 days ago

        (And just to be clear, I have many problems and potential concerns about Musk. I’m just saying I’d choose him over, say, a Maoist, or a Stalinist, and over “Burn_The_Right”.)

    • ptfrd@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      4·
      4 days ago

      If so, why would SpaceX have so rapidly & aggressively moved to restore Ukraine’s communications capabilities in the early days and weeks of the current war, and maintained them ever since?

      • fox2263@lemmy.worldEnglish
        18·
        4 days ago

        Likely the US government said to do so or else they can kiss their funding and licenses goodbye.

        • ptfrd@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          3·
          3 days ago

          Plausible. It’s not how I imagine them engaging with their defence contractors but I don’t actually have a clue how it works. One supporting point might be if there were any other companies treated similarly, like if Lockheed Martin was ordered to immediately ramp up production of relevant types of military hardware, and told that the details (contracts / payment / etc.) would be sorted out later.

          An opposing point would be the fact that the US and its allies knew an invasion was likely well in advance. Yet the initial Starlink ‘roll out’ seemed pretty ad hoc, with SpaceX organizing its own logistics. But then maybe the allies didn’t expect Russia to be so effective in disrupting the existing military comms infrastructure.

      • lemming@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
        1·
        3 days ago

        Based on some old tweets, I think Musk believes Putin wants to use nuclear weapons. Then, the army put some pressure on him to keep supporting Ukraine, but he is still also working on his own. I’m sure he could block the Starlink terminals Russian army is using, if he wanted to try, for example.

        • ptfrd@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          3·
          3 days ago

          I’m sure he could block the Starlink terminals Russian army is using, if he wanted to try, for example.

          I remember a story coming out about Russians using Starlink but it seemed a bit vague to me. Has anyone reliable actually asserted that SpaceX are significantly underperforming in the job of blocking captured terminals (once notified), or other aspects of the day-to-day operations that the Ukrainians would do if they controlled it themselves?

          • lemming@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
            2·
            3 days ago

            I actually don’t know. I didn’t dig into it, I just read an article about Russians praising Starlink bought through third parties used at the front. It seemed similar enough to other captured communications previously shown as accurate. But it doesn’t definitively prove anything for sure. It could’ve easily been propaganda from any involved party.

  • ptfrd@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    8·
    4 days ago

    This would be a nuclear option and, in reality, probably would do more harm than good to SpaceX,

    It would probably set back their more ambitious targets by decades. But even Starship is now far enough along to no longer really need Musk’s stewardship, and the US government would be happy enough just with control of the Falcon programme. They don’t care much / at all about Making Life Multi-Planetary.

    So I consider a move like this pretty plausible.

    • lemming@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      I don’t, Musk is too influential. And honestly, I don’t think there needs to be much concern about space launch part of the business. I’m under the impression that it is already regulated enough to be relatively safely under control. And I would be sad to see it taken away from SpaceX and probably even Musk specifically. He is an incredible idiot and dangerous person, but the progress they did and triggered in others is undeniable and I’d like to see it continue.

      But Starlink is a completely different matter. Private company strongly lead by a single, somewhat crazy person, is very dangerous. I think few people expected it to be such a game changer in the beginning, I certainly didn’t. But it is important and very influential. Maybe ideal would be if it was controlled by the government, if it had the final say in geopolitical decisions etc., but the profits (or some part), development and such remained in the hands of SpaceX. Well, some international body as isolated from political influence as possible would be even better, but there’s no chance of that happening.