2022.04.29 卫星互联网在乌克兰成为热门新商品

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Satellite internet is a hot new commodity in Ukraine
Starlink is being used by the military and hospitals, but its signal is weakest on the front line
Apr 29th 2022


The night skies above Europe are dotted with satellites. Some beam high-speed internet down to Earth. On February 26th, responding to a plea from the Ukrainian government, SpaceX, a rocketry firm founded by Elon Musk, shipped thousands of Starlink dishes to the war zone. Within a month the number of Ukrainian downloads of the Starlink application, used to connect computers and phones to dishes and thus to satellite internet signals, rose from zero to 215,000 (representing 58% of the worldwide total).


Satellite internet has been around for decades. In the dotcom boom, several companies tried to commercialise it and went bust. It is generally slow and expensive, and thus mostly used as a backup when nothing better is available. Starlink is an attempt to improve the technology. By flying thousands of satellites in low orbits, rather than a few in high ones, it is able to offer swifter connections. Before Russia’s invasion, Mr Musk had intended to provide internet to people living in rural areas unreachable by cables and cell towers. The war has become another testing ground.

Britain’s Ministry of Defence said it suspects Russia is seeking to destroy communication lines. Since the outbreak of war, internet connectivity has been spotty. Russian forces have struck television towers in Kyiv, the capital, and Kharkiv. On March 21st, Mariupol went offline after troops bombed the offices of Kyivstar, Ukraine’s largest internet provider and the last to offer service in the besieged city.

According to Apptopia, a data company, Starlink has roughly 150,000 active daily users in Ukraine. News reports claim that Starlink is aiding military communication. The Daily Telegraph reported that Ukrainian forces are using Starlink to gather intelligence and track targets for drone strikes. Viktor Liashko, Ukraine’s health minister, said hospitals are avoiding blackouts by tapping into its signals. Yet connectivity is weakest in eastern Ukraine, the renewed focus of Russia’s attack. There, orbiting satellites are further from their ground stations. On April 21st, SpaceX launched 53 more satellites into orbit. Better coverage will make Starlink only more useful. ■




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卫星互联网在乌克兰成为热门新商品
军队和医院正在使用Starlink，但其信号在前线最弱
2022年4月29日
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欧洲上空的夜空布满了卫星。一些卫星将高速互联网传送到地球。2月26日，应乌克兰政府的请求，埃隆-马斯克创办的火箭公司SpaceX向战区运送了数千枚Starlink天线。在一个月内，乌克兰下载Starlink应用程序的数量从零上升到21.5万（占全球总数的58%），该应用程序用于将电脑和手机连接到天线，从而连接到卫星互联网信号。


卫星互联网已经存在了几十年。在互联网热潮中，有几家公司试图将其商业化，但都破产了。它通常很慢而且很贵，因此在没有更好的东西可用时，大多被用作备份。Starlink是改进该技术的一个尝试。通过在低轨道上飞行数千颗卫星，而不是在高轨道上飞行几颗卫星，它能够提供更快速的连接。在俄罗斯入侵之前，马斯克先生曾打算向生活在电缆和手机塔无法到达的农村地区的人们提供互联网。战争已经成为另一个试验场。

英国国防部表示，它怀疑俄罗斯正在寻求破坏通信线路。自战争爆发以来，互联网连接一直不稳定。俄罗斯军队已经袭击了首都基辅和哈尔科夫的电视塔。3月21日，军队轰炸了乌克兰最大的互联网供应商Kyivstar的办公室后，马里乌波尔市就断电了，Kyivstar是被围困城市中最后提供服务的公司。

根据数据公司Apptopia的数据，Starlink在乌克兰每天大约有15万名活跃用户。新闻报道称，Starlink正在协助军事通信。每日电讯报》报道说，乌克兰军队正在使用Starlink收集情报并追踪无人机袭击的目标。乌克兰卫生部长维克多-利亚什科（Viktor Liashko）说，医院通过接入星联的信号避免了停电。然而，乌克兰东部的连接性最弱，那里是俄罗斯再次攻击的重点。在那里，轨道卫星离其地面站更远。4月21日，SpaceX又发射了53颗卫星进入轨道。更好的覆盖范围将使Starlink更加有用。■