Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Starlink now active in Ukraine

The Ukrainian government asked Tesla CEO Elon Musk for help with its internet amid its war with Russia.  Musk answered.

Mykhailo Fedorov, Ukraine’s vice prime minister and minister of digital transformation, asked the Tesla (ticker: TSLA) CEO for Starlink stations from SpaceX on Saturday Feb. 26.

The answer came relatively quickly. Fedorov knew where to find Musk. He asked on Twitter, where Musk has amassed more than 75 million followers.

Starlink is space-based internet service that SpaceX has begun offering. Exactly how many terminals are on the way and how Ukraine officials plan to deploy them isn’t known. SpaceX and the Ukrainian government didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Space-based internet service, however, likely is harder to disrupt in war than wired or cell-tower based systems.

There are now more than 2,000 small, Starlink satellites in low-earth orbit. Musk said the service works best in rural areas, but his space company has plans to add to the number and capability of its satellites over time.

SpaceX is privately held, but is valued at roughly $100 billion in private markets. That makes SpaceX one of the top five most valuable aerospace franchises on the planet, right alongside the likes of Boeing (BA), Lockheed Martin (LMT) and Raytheon Technologies (RTX).

Musk’s other large company, Tesla, is publicly traded, of course. Shares have struggled so far in 2022 amid rising geopolitical tensions and higher inflation.

Tesla stock has declined about 23% year to date, worse than the 8% and 6%, comparable respective returns of the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average.

Tesla shares closed down 5.5% this past week. It rallied later in the week, along with the rest of the market, but didn’t finish in the green like the Nasdaq Composite. The Nasdaq finished the week up 1.1%. Barrons.com