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[–]SnowFlakeUsername2 156 points157 points  (5 children)

So ISP level VPNs over Starlink and military specific ground terminals?

[–]Adeldor[S] 86 points87 points  (3 children)

It appears to be something like that. FTA:

“The SpaceX contract provides for Starshield end-to-end service (via the Starlink constellation), user terminals, ancillary equipment, network management and other related services,” ...

[–]SnowFlakeUsername2 28 points29 points  (2 children)

I missed the "via the Starlink constellation" part... not that dedicated satellites would make any sense.

[–]bremidon 25 points26 points  (0 children)

At the moment, you are right. As soon as Starship is operational, all bets are off.

[–]ergzay -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Perhaps, though I doubt any US communications are in clear-text anyway so VPN doesn't help too much. Though I guess using such a VPN would hide source and destination IP addresses. A lot of people seem to think VPNs are more important than they actually are.

[–]Spotter01 98 points99 points  (0 children)

Starlink is kinda pulling a Reverse of what GPS Sat's did in the 80s

[–]Decronym 13 points14 points  (0 children)

Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I've seen in this thread:

Fewer Letters More Letters
CST (Boeing) Crew Space Transportation capsules
Central Standard Time (UTC-6)
DARPA (Defense) Advanced Research Projects Agency, DoD
DoD US Department of Defense
EAR Export Administration Regulations, covering technologies that are not solely military
ITAR (US) International Traffic in Arms Regulations
Isp Specific impulse (as explained by Scott Manley on YouTube)
Internet Service Provider
LEO Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)
Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations)
SLS Space Launch System heavy-lift
ULA United Launch Alliance (Lockheed/Boeing joint venture)
Jargon Definition
Starliner Boeing commercial crew capsule CST-100
Starlink SpaceX's world-wide satellite broadband constellation

NOTE: Decronym for Reddit is no longer supported, and Decronym has moved to Lemmy; requests for support and new installations should be directed to the Contact address below.


10 acronyms in this thread; the most compressed thread commented on today has 11 acronyms.
[Thread #9291 for this sub, first seen 28th Sep 2023, 03:40] [FAQ] [Full list] [Contact] [Source code]

[–]ergzay 186 points187 points  (50 children)

I think it's good that the US government is investing in Starlink in some form. Starlink has clearly demonstrated how valuable it is in Ukraine. The ability to get real time video from small commercial drones is invaluable for any military officer and then aggregate that information. It's easy to see a Starlink variant becoming a key component of the future US military.

[–]PoopRug 20 points21 points  (1 child)

They already do in some units for east satcom.

[–]ergzay 3 points4 points  (0 children)

east satcom? What organization is that?

[–]leetgirl83 360 points361 points  (120 children)

Why does the Pentagon want to contract with SpaceX, given that Reddit says Elon is a Putin fan?

[–]ergzay 127 points128 points  (41 children)

Maybe consider not trusting Reddit?

[–]JPIPS42 66 points67 points  (5 children)

Because Reddit is often stupid.

[–]banned_after_12years 51 points52 points  (2 children)

If you think Elon has America’s best interest at heart, I’ve got a beach house to sell you in Idaho.

[–]crashfrog 60 points61 points  (0 children)

It feels like there’s a middle ground between “Elon has American’s best interests at heart” and “Elon is a traitor” that the truth (it’s actually against US law to provide services in Crimea) might occupy.

[–]machineorganism 18 points19 points  (0 children)

because the real world is full of nuance? most people are anchored in to black-and-white hardline views and are completely incapable of making any logical connections between those views and real world consequences or effects.

[–]I_AM_FERROUS_MAN 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Both can be true. The Pentagon does make exceptions for unusual bedfellows if they have a necessary capability.

[–]great__pretender 12 points13 points  (0 children)

Will Elon be able to shut down the systems he is selling to military?

If yes, given his history, it is a valid concern. Not a reddit concern.

[–]ace17708 2 points3 points  (0 children)

"The award came alongside 18 other companies through a program run by the Space Force’s commercial satellite communications office."

So long as the beliefs or messages of the contracted company state out of the product the military doesn't care. Trijicon is a great example of that..

[–]sky_blu 103 points104 points  (77 children)

I understand why people don't want Elon getting awarded US defense contracts but the alternative would likely be our military spending probably too much money and time to develop their own version in house. I have a feeling the loudest critics to this are also people who strongly disagree with how much funding goes towards our military (a view I don't fully disagree with). Bit of a rock and a hard place situation