Aside from the corny memes and fight challenges, Elon Musk is using his tech to help Ukrainians.
In the past, Elon has focused on rockets or cars. With Ukraine, he's giving some cities internet access.
Let's take a look at Starlink.
What is Starlink?
At the beginning of March, Elon Musk a truckload of Starlink terminals to Ukraine. Starlink is a satellite internet system.
To most people living in a big city or suburb, internet speeds are not really a problem. There are different speeds and providers to choose from.
But to people living in rural areas or conflict areas, speeds will be significantly slower.
This is where Starlink comes in. Starlink from SpaceX is capable of delivering 150Mbps speeds to nearly any place on the planet.
Starlink satellites are in low orbit, so the connection is fast has little to no latency. This will make sure there is almost no downtime in rural areas.
How Does Starlink Help Ukraine?
Elon got the call from Ukraine's vice prime minister to send Starlink terminals after Russia's invasion disrupted internet services.
Ukrainians can access the internet free of charge, and they also have access to charging their Teslas if they need to.
In cities like Mariupol, SpaceX released an update that reduces the terminals' need for power. So, if electricity is cut off, it can be powered by a car's cigarette lighter.
There is a roaming feature, so a terminal can be used in a moving vehicle. This makes it harder to be detected.
The US supports the move; they see it as a great example of large companies making positive changes.
How Does Starlink Help Ukraine's Military?
Starlink Internet is proving to be useful for Ukraine's military as it fights Russia's invasion.
Ukraine drone teams in badly connected areas are able to use Starlink to connect them to targeters and intelligence on their battlefield database.
Ukrainian drones can sneak up on Russian forces at night as they sleep. Then, they can direct the drones to fire on Russian tanks, trucks, or vehicles.
These drones also come equipped with infrared sensors and can be used to collect data on Russian troop movements.
Elon Musk and War Technology
This isn't the first time SpaceX has used its tech to help war efforts.
SpaceX and the US Military plan to build a rocket capable of delivering 80 metric tons of cargo anywhere in the world in 60 minutes.
Elon Musk and his team also won a $150 million contract to build missile-tracking satellites for the Pentagon.
He also sent a GPS satellite into space for the U.S. Space Force last year with one of his rockets.
