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Russia Launches Starlink Rival Under Fire · Elon Musk Podcast

• 0:00
  The Russian Aerospace company Bureau 1440 successfully
• 0:03
  launched a batch of 16 Ras VET high speed Internet satellites
• 0:07
  into orbit, while the Pleset's Cosmodrome was actively under
• 0:10
  attack by Ukrainian drones. Yeah, I mean, launching a rocket
• 0:14
  while under active fire requires just intense operational
• 0:18
  coordination. And Russian President Vladimir
• 0:21
  Putin and Ross Cosmos head Dmitri Bunkenoff actually
• 0:24
  confirm this deployment functions as the foundation for
• 0:27
  a state backed rival to Spacex's Starlink network.
• 0:31
  So we're looking at a total fusion of commercial space
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  technology, military communications and domestic
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  Internet infrastructure. Right.
• 0:38
  So how exactly does a nation build and deploy a brand new
• 0:42
  space based Internet constellation while its launch
• 0:45
  pads and infrastructure are actively targeted?
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  Well, to understand the drive behind this, we have to look at
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  how commercial space technology fundamentally altered tactical
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  operations on the ground. Because Ukrainian forces
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  utilized 10s of thousands of commercial Starlink terminals to
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  coordinate decentralized operations, share intelligence
• 1:02
  and guide drone strikes, right? Exactly.
• 1:05
  That created a highly resilient communication web that
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  centralized militaries really struggle to counter, and Russian
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  forces initially relied on illicitly acquired Starlink
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  terminals or their own older geostationary satellite systems
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  to manage their operations. But those older systems suffer
• 1:24
  from severe latency and are, you know, easily detectable by enemy
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  sensors. Actually, wait, backup
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  geostationary versus low earth orbit?
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  What is the actual operational difference for a soldier on the
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  ground? So geostationary satellites said
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  about 35,000 kilometers out in space, they essentially match
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  the Earth's rotation to stay parked over one fixed point on
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  the equator. OK.
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  So they're really far out there. Yeah, exactly.
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  And because the radio signal has to travel all the way up there
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  and all the way back down, there's a physical limitation
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  based on the speed of light that creates a lag of over 600
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  milliseconds. Which I mean, if you were
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  sitting at home loading a web page, 600 milliseconds is barely
• 2:02
  noticeable. But if you are trying to pilot a
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  reconnaissance drone via a live video feed, a delay of over half
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  a second means you crash into a tree before your control inputs
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  even register. Precisely so low Earth orbit
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  satellites like the new Ras VET models, flying at an altitude of
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  around 800 kilometers, drop that latency down to just 50 to 70
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  milliseconds. Wow, that is a massive drop.
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  It is that minimal delay opens up the ability to pilot drones
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  in real time. Basically allows isolated units
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  to coordinate complex decentralized maneuvers without
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  the signal lag that causes smart weapons to miss their targets or
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  operators to lose control of their vehicles.
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  So they're building an entirely new infrastructure to replace
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  those older, slower geostationary relays.
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  And Bureau 1440, which is a subsidiary of the sanctioned IKS
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  Holding Group, developed these Rasfat satellites.
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  Yeah, and the engineering specifications indicate they
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  operate on KA and coup frequency bands and utilize 5G non
• 3:00
  terrestrial network standards. Which is a crucial detail,
• 3:02
  right? Yeah, definitely.
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  It means they are not using a proprietary, highly specialized
• 3:08
  military communication protocol. They are using standardized
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  commercial protocols adapted for space.
• 3:13
  Making it significantly cheaper and faster to mass produce the
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  ground terminals. Exactly.
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  And those specific frequency bands, the Kan Ku bands, resist
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  electronic warfare jamming far better than standard
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  communications because they operate at much higher
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  frequencies. Right.
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  So if you think about normal military radio communications,
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  it is like trying to have a conversation in a crowded room
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  by shouting. Yeah, anyone in that room can
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  easily drown you out with white noise.
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  But these con crew bands are so tight and directional it is more
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  like using a laser pointer to flash Morse code directly into
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  someone's eye from across the room.
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  An enemy jammer has a really hard time drowning out a tightly
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  focused laser. That is a really accurate way to
• 3:55
  visualize it and to catch that tightly focused signal.
• 3:58
  The ground terminals use phased array antenna technology.
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  Because normally a satellite dish has to physically pivot on
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  a motorized mount to track a moving object in the sky.
• 4:08
  Right, but the Raspet satellites are moving at roughly 27,000
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  kilometers an hour. Having a mechanical dish try to
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  track that from a moving truck is highly impractical.
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  O How does a phased array do this without moving parts?
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  Well, a phased array uses hundreds of tiny antenna
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  elements laid out flat on a panel.
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  By slightly delaying the radio signal sent to each individual
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  element by a fraction of a nanosecond, the terminal
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  electronically steers the signal beam.
• 4:35
  Oh, I see. Yeah, it manipulates the phase
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  of the radio waves so they constructively interfere in one
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  specific direction. It tracks the satellite moving
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  overhead purely through math, maintaining a lock without any
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  mechanical movement. But hold on.
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  A cluster of just 16 satellites only provides communication
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  windows of maybe 15 to 20 minutes as they Passover a
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  specific territory like Ukraine. That does not sound like the
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  continuous, unbroken coverage a military needs to run an
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  operation. True, but even these brief
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  windows are enough to exchange critical targeting data.
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  A military unit can upload reconnaissance photos, download
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  new orders and sync their tactical maps within a 15 minute
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  burst transmission. And then when the satellite
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  passes out of range, the terminal just go silent until
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  the next one arrives. Yeah.
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  This limits the current network, certainly, but it opens up a
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  road map for continuous coverage.
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  The state is subsidizing the launch of hundreds more
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  satellites with a goal of reaching around 900 total units
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  to eliminate those dark periods entirely.
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  OK, so they are rushing to build this highly resilient network in
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  space, but the irony is to get those satellites up there, they
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  have to use ground facilities that are incredibly vulnerable.
• 5:46
  Oh, absolutely. The Posetsk Space Center is a
• 5:48
  massive military base crucial for launching satellites and
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  testing ballistic missiles. And dozens of Ukrainian fixed
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  wing drones targeted the facility exactly as the Soyuz
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  rocket was being prepared for this Ras vet launch.
• 6:01
  Which, you know, a spaceport is basically a giant, highly
• 6:05
  explosive chemical facility during a launch countdown.
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  It is, and the proliferation of commercial space technology,
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  specifically Earth observation constellations like Maxar and
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  Icy, has created an incredibly transparent battlefield.
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  Viewing massive troop movements and launch preparations are
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  visible to pretty much everyone. Yeah, ICY uses synthetic
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  aperture radar, which operates very differently from a standard
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  optical camera. Because an optical camera relies
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  on sunlight reflecting off an object, which means it is
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  useless at night or if there are clouds in the way.
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  Exactly. Synthetic Aperture Radar
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  actively emits its own microwave pulses down to the Earth's
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  surface and measures the backscatter that returns.
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  Oh wow. It creates a highly detailed
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  topological map that pierces straight through dense cloud
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  cover, fog, and total darkness. You just cannot hide the massive
• 6:53
  logistical footprint required to fuel and launch an orbital
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  rocket. I mean a Soyuz rocket requires
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  hundreds of tons of super cooled liquid oxygen, specialized rail
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  cars to transport the vehicle and days of preparation on the
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  pad. And the radar satellites see all
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  that metal and infrastructure moving into place.
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  So if you step outside and look up, someone can probably keep
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  secrecy as we knew it is just gone.
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  It ractically eliminates the element of strategic surprise.
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  Because fixed locations like space ports, oil refineries and
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  large staging areas are constantly monitored and
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  targeted, military planners are forced to cloak their schedules
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  and reduce the scope of public displays.
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  Right when you combine high resolution radar imagery with
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  precision long range drones, any static piece of infrastructure
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  becomes a huge liability. And militaries are fighting back
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  against this transparency using electronic warfare.
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  Electronic warfare systems have been pulled out of strategic
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  reserves and attached directly to frontline ground units.
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  Instead of holding these systems back to protect command centers,
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  they're putting them right in the mud with the infantry.
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  Yeah, these systems flood the electromagnetic spectrum with
• 8:01
  noise. They're used to jam GPS and
• 8:03
  satellite communication signals, which successfully causes
• 8:06
  precision weapons like Hemars and Excalibur shells to veer off
• 8:11
  course. Right, because if a smart weapon
• 8:13
  loses its link to the satellites, its internal
• 8:16
  guidance drifts and it misses the target entirely.
• 8:20
  But wait, if jamming is so effective at blinding smart
• 8:22
  weapons, why spend billions building a new satellite network
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  that might just get jammed anyway?
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  Well, jamming creates a localized shield, but radiating
• 8:31
  jammers reveal their exact location, turning them into high
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  value targets. Oh, I get it.
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  Think of an active jammer like a stadium floodlight sitting in
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  the middle of a pitch black field.
• 8:40
  Exactly. It completely blinds anyone
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  looking directly at it, but everyone in the area knows
• 8:45
  exactly where the light is coming from.
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  So if an adversary has sensors that detect that radiation, they
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  just target the jammer itself. Right for the more Drone
• 8:54
  developers are bypassing wireless signals entirely by
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  using physical fiber optic tethers, severely limiting the
• 9:00
  long term effectiveness of these electronic warfare umbrellas.
• 9:03
  Wait, a drone with a physical fiber optic tether literally
• 9:06
  spools out a tiny glass wire as it flies?
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  Yeah. As the drone moves over the
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  terrain, sometimes for 10 kilometers or more, it receives
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  control commands and sends back high definition video through
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  that physical cord instead of using a radio wave.
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  And you cannot jam a physical wire.
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  The drone operates entirely outside the electromagnetic
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  spectrum. It creates a constant cat and
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  mouse dynamic. As one side develops a better
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  wireless communication system, the other side develops a
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  stronger jammer. Which forces the first side to
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  engineer non wireless workarounds like spooling glass
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  threads through the air. Exactly.
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  And this entire technological arms race connects to something
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  much closer to home for the Russian public.
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  Because when you look at the corporate filings for Bureau
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  1440, a very specific overlap emerges.
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  Yeah. The parent corporate structure
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  is intertwined with the exact same companies like YADRO and
• 9:59
  Citadel that manufacture the hardware used to monitor and
• 10:03
  censor Russia's domestic Internet.
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  According to the documentation compiled by the Anti Corruption
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  Foundation, the people building the military satellite network
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  are the exact same people building the state's Internet
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  censorship tools. Entities like Roskam Nanzor use
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  what they designate as technical equipment for countering threats
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  to filter traffic, block form platforms and force reliance on
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  state approved monitored alternatives like VK Video, RU 2
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  E and the Max Messenger. And this technical equipment
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  utilizes A mechanism called deep packet inspection to analyze the
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  data flowing through Internet service providers.
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  Explain how deep packet inspection physically works on a
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  network. So normally when you send an
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  e-mail or load a website, your data is broken down into small
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  packets. Standard Internet routing just
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  reads the digital envelope of those packets to see the
• 10:52
  destination address and sends it on its way.
• 10:54
  Deep packet inspection actually opens the envelope.
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  It reads the contents of the data packet in real time.
• 11:00
  Oh wow. Yeah.
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  If the data is attempting to reach a banned platform, or if
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  it contains restricted keywords, the system automatically
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  throttles the connection, alters the data, or blocks it entirely.
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  So, according to the analysis of this corporate structure, this
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  infrastructure serves a dual purpose.
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  By isolating the domestic Internet, the state restricts
• 11:19
  civilian access to uncensored information and enables the
• 11:23
  identification of descenders. Right, The hardware being
• 11:26
  deployed actively logs messages, search queries and digital
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  interactions. The state is effectively merging
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  its military communications with civilian surveillance.
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  Which opens up a reality where the government owns the entire
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  information pipeline from the server in Moscow to the
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  satellite in orbit, ensuring complete sovereignty over what
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  citizens see and how soldiers communicate.
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  Exactly. By forcing users onto state
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  approved platforms, the state ensures that all data is
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  retained locally, completely accessible to domestic security
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  services through systems like SOORM, the system for Operative
• 12:01
  Investigative Activities. And Soorm physically sits inside
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  the data centers of the Internet service providers.
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  It is a direct hardline that gives state security services
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  real time access to the data flowing through the network
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  without needing a warrant or permission from the service
• 12:16
  provider. Right.
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  Combining that domestic surveillance hardware with a
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  sovereign low Earth orbit satellite network changes the
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  underlying architecture of their digital infrastructure.
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  Because if a nation relies on Western undersea cables or
• 12:29
  foreign commercial satellites to route its data, it remains
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  vulnerable to outside pressure or monitoring.
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  Exactly. By building and controlling
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  every physical node, the ground terminals, the fiber optic
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  lines, the deep packet inspection servers, and the
• 12:43
  satellites themselves, they construct a closed loop.
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  They can sever connections to the global Internet while
• 12:49
  keeping their military operations and internal state
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  functions running smoothly. Exactly so.
• 12:54
  The militarization of commercial space technology has turned low
• 12:57
  Earth orbit into an active tactical zone.
• 13:00
  By deploying their own high speed satellite network amid
• 13:03
  active drone strikes, Russian forces are working to secure an
• 13:06
  unjammable communications pipeline that also cements
• 13:10
  control over their domestic information space.
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  And it really makes you wonder, if private tech companies and
• 13:16
  their satellites are now the backbone of wartime
• 13:18
  infrastructure, how do international laws even begin to
• 13:23
  regulate a commercial asset that double S as a military target?
• 13:26
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• 13:32
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• 13:36
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