SpaceX’s Starlink satellite service has successfully completed nine months of U.S. military tests in the Arctic, potentially clearing the way for owner Elon Musk to deepen his ties with the Pentagon in a region of growing strategic competition.
The previously undisclosed testing found Starlink to be a "reliable and high-performance communications system in the Arctic, including on-the-move applications,” Brian Beal, principal engineer with the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Integrated Capabilities Directorate, said.
The exercises, which ended in June, evaluated Starlink’s usefulness for the Pentagon’s needs, according to Beal. A SpaceX spokesperson didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.