Space economist (one of the very few) - Research & Managing Director at Eurospace - views are mine not Eurospace
Paris, France
Joined April 2015
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Pierre Lionnet retweeted
Let me clear up some common misconceptions regarding Starlinkand Starshield.
1. As of October 21, Starlink's Terms of Service do not impose a blanket prohibition on military use, although its incorporated Acceptable Use Policy restricts military activities and drone operations without appropriate authorization. Given Ukraine's extensive and publicly acknowledged military use of Starlink over several years, it stretches credulity to suggest that SpaceX was unaware of or had not acquiesced to at least some military applications. It is also striking that the disruption coincided with disagreements over Ukraine's policy of targeting Russian refineries and data centers, as well as Musk's tweet that "This has gone too far."
2. While the Pentagon exercises operational authority over U.S.-procured Starshield services, SpaceX owns and operates the underlying Starlink network and infrastructure on which certain Starshield services depend. The precise division of technical and contractual authority remains disputed.
3. SpaceX does not provide Starlink and Starshield services to Ukraine for free. Ukraine, Poland, and Germany pay for Starlink terminals and subscriptions, while Starshield is supplied through U.S. government contractual arrangements. SpaceX is a commercial defense contractor being paid to provide critical military communications services, not a charitable benefactor. Its unilateral restriction of contracted services, if established, could constitute a breach of contract and could expose SpaceX to considerable liability.
4. Full service has not been restored. Ukrainian officials continue to report operational restrictions affecting Starlink and/or Starshield services.
5. Starlink is not the only satellite communications platform available or being developed. Alternatives include Eutelsat OneWeb, GOVSATCOM, and the planned European IRIS2 constellation, although these are not yet complete substitutes for Starlink's capabilities. Nevertheless, they do indicate a willingness to look beyond SpaceX as a provider of these services.
An ’armour’ for satellites against debris, now, how do you actually put it in the path of an actual debris for test?
BREAKING: A new type of satellite armor designed to withstand debris traveling over 15,000 mph has reached orbit for the first time aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Developed by U.S. startup Atomic-6, Space Armor uses advanced composite tiles to protect spacecraft from high-speed debris without blocking radio communications or generating large amounts of secondary debris.
The technology launched October 20 aboard Portal Space Systems' Starburst-1 satellite on SpaceX's Bandwagon-5 mission.
In ground testing, the armor successfully stopped projectiles traveling faster than 7 kilometers per second, while minimizing the fragments produced by impact.
The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory and Space Force's Space Systems Command have backed its development with approximately $5 million in combined funding, including matching funds.
The orbital mission will help validate the technology for future commercial and military spacecraft, as growing satellite constellations increase demand for protection against collisions and untrackable debris.
The armor is now in orbit, but a successful debris interception in space has not been reported.
Pierre Lionnet retweeted
$SPCX - Starlink subscriber growth has peaked! Added 1.6mn subs in 3Q-26 vs 1.7mn in 2Q-26. If they add 1.6mn per Q from here to the end of 2029 they end up with 36mn subscribers. Consensus is 66mn.... To make consensus they need to add 3.7mn each Q from here. Good luck.
So many nuances in sovereign satellite observation
“Sovereignty” is probably the most overused term in the Earth observation sector today. According to TerraWatch analysis, we track at least 76 governments that have either announced or have ongoing activities related to deploying their sovereign EO solutions.
But how sovereign is sovereign?
Some countries are buying dedicated satellites from companies that deliver them in less than a year, some countries are reserving exclusive capacity on commercial EO satellites and others are commissioning fully nationally built and owned constellations. But all of these are called "sovereign."
A better way to think about sovereignty is perhaps as a stack of control points across the EO value chain. So, I recently came up with 10 layers of sovereignty that go all the way from one end to the other.
1. Industrial sovereignty
2. Deployment sovereignty
3. Asset sovereignty
4. Operations sovereignty
5. Collection sovereignty
6. Access sovereignty
7. Data sovereignty
8. Processing sovereignty
9. AI model sovereignty
10. Application sovereignty
In the latest edition of the @terrawatchspace Pro newsletter, I detailed the 10 layers of EO sovereignty, analysed whether any EO system can be fully sovereign, discussed the differences between sovereignty and autarky and what the future of EO sovereignty would look like.
Pierre Lionnet retweeted
My very preliminary reconstruction of the "Russian Starlink" satellite based on available photos and official imagery. A complete history of the project, technical details and coverage of Rassvet missions are on the site.
Pierre Lionnet retweeted
They put Americans at risk.
“We are particularly alarmed by incidents in which U.S. diplomatic, military, and security personnel were unable to reach designated bunkers during Russian air raids, amid reported disruptions to intelligence-sharing and early-warning capabilities.”
Pierre Lionnet retweeted
LEO-based PNT is the future of navigation. More satellites, significantly stronger signals, and much greater resistance to spoofing.
Players in this field already exist, such as Iridium, with more to come.
Starlink's navigation capabilities have evolved remarkably quickly, moving from a gimmick to a genuinely useful feature.
Yet most Starlink terminals still rely on a GPS receiver for in-motion operation.
Take the new V5 terminal, for example. The stationary consumer version lacks a GPS chip, but the REV5_AUTO variant (used in the Cybercab) brings back the good old STA8089, sacrificing a few phased-array antenna elements to make room for it.
The Starshield version of the Mini goes even further, featuring a TESEO-V GNSS receiver.
The reason is simple: in some cases, proven hardware still beats a purely software-based approach.
Starlink calculates its position during gaps in TDMA frames. It's essentially a side job for the terminal's firmware. It works incredibly well these days.
I'd love to see a dedicated ASIC for Starlink PNT.
That could be a game changer.
We have a new player in European launch, this one targets heavy reusable launchers. Will they succeed? The presentation video is bullshitmaxxing, but that's the rule of the game.
linkedin.com/company/ratlog-…
We are building reusable heavy-lift rockets to take on SpaceX, powered by an engine designed with 90% fewer parts. First engine hot-fired 4 months in, from a basement, for under $30K. $400M in launch reservations signed. Satellite operators: let’s talk @ycombinator
Pierre Lionnet retweeted
Presidential advisor Serhiy Beskrestnov confirms Elon Musk's SpaceX is deliberately crippling Ukrainian Starlink terminals:
"I can confirm that tonight SpaceX has implemented a speed limit on Starlink terminals while in motion.
The limit currently applies to the StarShield “military package” and is set at 100 mph.
Our defense forces were not given notice of this limit, and this has resulted in the disruption of a number of missions.
It is clear that this action cannot be a coincidence and is related to the current political situation."
“Now, I do believe Elon Musk and SpaceX can get all the money in the world, because investors also seem to believe he can walk on water”
T-Mobile's Parent Company Fires Back at SpaceX's Starlink Mobile Challenge pcmag.com/news/t-mobiles-par…
When the NASA adiministrator takes the time to respond to a fake story... this tells you how bad the social media have become.
So the post below went a bit viral, and I was tagged on it several times. I'm not posting to disagree, as I write and talk a lot about freeing NASA from external impositions, eliminating needless bureaucracy, empowering our talented workforce, and focusing resources on the objectives NASA was created to achieve. No need to rehash all of that here and make this post excessively long.
And of course, SpaceX is an extraordinary company that has enabled NASA to accomplish far more at lower cost, from transporting astronauts to the ISS, to launching Europa Clipper, to the first Moon Base mission set to launch in December. Its ambition to make humanity a spacefaring civilization is exciting and important beyond words.
I will just leave you with this: NASA is the world's greatest space agency. We put 12 American heroes on the Moon and brought them home safely, built the Space Shuttle, landed rovers on Mars, launched great observatories like Hubble, James Webb, and now Roman, sent a spacecraft to kiss the Sun's corona, and sent Voyager nearly a light-day from Earth, and she is still going.
There is a reason the NASA "meatball" is one of the most recognizable logos on the planet. What our people accomplish inspires generations. Even with the occasional institutional inertia, NASA remains the space agency others aspire to be. We didn't earn that reputation through continuous perfection. We earned it by accomplishing what others thought impossible.
"Starlink Mobile’s real constraint might not be satellite coverage but capacity per square kilometer."
"The base satellite case supports about eight mobile subscribers per km²."
rcrwireless.com/20261007/car…
This paper about lunar water resources perfectly exemplifies the widespread fallacy that the universe holds 'infinite resources'.
spacedaily.com/t-moon-polar-…
A very interesting read on the ins and out of SpaceX taking on the cellular market in the USA. A market that, according to the piece, is not growing, represents about 300 million subscribers at a flat ARPU of 55-60$ and produces lower margins than Starlink’s broadband.
A chaque fois que je vois l’etat dans lequel sont les astronautes après quelques mois en orbite j’ai mal pour eux. Plus de 60 ans de vol habité et on en est toujours à fabriquer des grabataires.
“Bezos said he has personally invested $28 billion in Blue Origin” if you compare that to the <$10B invested in SpaceX you really wonder where all this capital went.
"Our goal is to fly every day. And, then, once we’re flying every day, we want to fly every hour. And then once we’re flying every hour, we want to fly every minute." -- @JeffBezos
foxnews.com/media/jeff-bezos…
