November 2022: As Starlink’s use in the Ukraine military efforts is becoming more and more known, the question of how many other ways Starlink could be used is raised. As Politico claims, “It’s no secret that Ukraine’s military relies heavily on the SpaceX service for a number of critical functions in its fight against Russian troops, including voice and electronic communications, helping fly drones and even correcting artillery fire.” The RNL’s Dr. Todd Humphreys has indicated that the Defense Department leaders have an “increased interest” in the “additional value” Starlink could offer compared to their current costly GPS phased-array antenna setup that aims to reduce its susceptibility to jamming. The idea has even gotten attention from Elon Musk himself who tweeted out that Starlink could “obviously offer far more robust positioning than GPS, as it will have ~1000X more satellites over time,” in response to the under-review paper written by Dr. Humphreys. Story here.
