SpaceX Starlink app tops charts in Ukraine
Elon Musk's company sought to provide internet after Russia invaded
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Downloads of Elon Musk's Starlink app have surged in Ukraine amid Russia's ongoing, brutal invasion.
Musk, the billionaire entrepreneur, sent the Starlink satellite technology to Ukraine in response to a public request from Ukraine Vice Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, who is concerned about internet disruptions during the Russian invasion.
The service is now up and running and is the only non-Russian communications system still working in some parts of Ukraine, according to Musk, the founder of SpaceX.
Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO, helped deliver internet technology to Ukraine during the war with Russia. REUTERS/Michele Tantussi/File Photo (REUTERS/Michele Tantussi/File Photo / Reuters Photos)
Starlink is designed to deliver high-speed broadband internet to locations where access has unreliable or unavailable.
Starlink was the most-downloaded free app on Sunday, with about 21,000 downloads that day, Sensor Tower, an analytics firm, told Business Insider. Most downloads came from Ukraine, the firm added, based on data from Apple's App Store and Google's Play store.
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Insider reported the Starlink app has been installed about 76,000 times in Ukraine — up 280% from the preceding two-week period, according to Sensor Tower. The first shipment of Starlink terminals arrived two weeks ago.
In this photo illustration a Starlink logo of a satellite internet constellation being constructed by SpaceX is seen on a smartphone and a pc screen, (Photo by Pavlo Gonchar / SOPA Images/Sipa USA). ( (Photo by Pavlo Gonchar / SOPA Images/Sipa USA / Reuters Photos)
The service has been so critical in Ukraine that Rep. Maria Elvira Salazar, R-Fla., is making a personal appeal to Musk to bring satellite internet technology to Cuba, much like he did in Ukraine.
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"I thank Mr. Elon Musk, and I would love for him to do the same thing for Cuba," Salazar told Fox News Digital in a recent interview. "We were trying to reach out to him and his technology because it's basically sending the message to those people: You are not alone."
Aside from providing internet to Ukraine, Musk also offered to help by challenging Russian President Vladimir Putin to single combat and wagering Ukraine in a bizarre tweet to his 78 million Twitter followers on Monday.