TLDR Hardware · MISCELLANEOUS

SPACEX REPORTEDLY SPEED-LIMITS STARSHIELD TERMINALS ON UKRAINIAN DRONES, CANCELLING MISSIONS

tomshardware.com3 min read

Summary from the TLDR Hardware newsletter

Ukrainian officials say SpaceX capped speeds on military Starshield terminals mounted on drones, with no warning and no stated reason. The cap is nominally 160 km/h, but the 7th Rapid Reaction Corps reports 10- to 20-second connection drops at just 110 to 120 km/h, and a volunteer says drops now start at 60 to 70 km/h. Multiple missions were cancelled. Officials suspect it's intentional, and Ukrainian firm Stetman is developing an alternative satellite system, UASAT-NANO.