The CEO of SpaceX, Elon Muskhas received heavy criticism by the head of the State Space Corporationcommonly known as Roscosmos della Russia. The leader of Roscosmos, Dimitry Rogozinused social media to personally target U.S. government officials after sanctions imposed on his country inflicted a blow to its commercial space program.
Elon Musk and criticism from the Head of the Space Corporation in Russia
Musk rose to prominence when he informed the Ukrainian Vice President, Mykhailo Fedorovthat his company had activated his Starlink satellite internet service in Ukraine and that more terminals were on the way.
The decision of the SpaceX chief to help Ukraine in a time of conflict angered Rogozin, who criticized Musk and his company in a recent statement. In it, the leader of space warns his compatriots from cooperating with Western companies. The comments of the head of the Russian space were also shared by a user on Twitter, who translated his statement. We report it below.
When Russia implements its highest national interests on the territory of Ukraine, @elonmusk appears with its Starlink, previously declared as purely civil. Here this “mud” (мурло) has opened. […] I warned him, but our “muscophiles” said – he is the light of world cosmonautics. Here, he looks on which side he is on now. I don’t even blame him personally. This is the West we should never trust.
SpaceX CEO, Elon Muskindirectly responded to Rogozin’s comment:
Ukraine’s civilian internet was experiencing strange disruptions, maybe it was bad weather? Either way, SpaceX is just helping to fix the problem.
The ongoing crisis in Europe made the public skeptical of state sponsored media due to their bias in reporting. Consequently, the big techs that deal with the dissemination of information are thereimitating access to these outlets in order to stem the flow of disinformation.
SpaceX’s Starlink terminals they have already started operating in Ukraine. According to Federov, they are helping the emergency services to stay connected during this time of crisis. Another problem that Ukraine is facing is theenergy supply necessary to operate the equipment. About that, Musk suggested the use of solar panels e battery. Federov, however, concluded by stating that “it may be impractical due to the lack of sunlight and the smoke from the burning cities.”