SpaceX’s network now makes up most of the satellites working in orbit. A fight over who slowed it in Ukraine has reopened an old question about who decides what it can do.
“Somebody is lying here,” Sen. Adam Schiff said regarding the dispute over who slowed Starlink in Ukraine last month. The company at the center owns more than 60% of the working satellites in orbit. SpaceX’s chief executive says Ukraine broke the rules. Ukraine says the order came from Washington. The administration denies interfering, and a former Labor Secretary has told Democrats to start laying the groundwork for taking the company over.
By KeepTrack’s tracking data, SpaceX has roughly 11,200 working Starlink satellites as of Nov. 4. Orbital Radar, which counts differently, listed 9,929 of 15,956 active satellites on Nov. 1, about 62%.
SpaceX also wants the network to reach phones. Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX’s president and chief operating officer, said in August that SpaceX would launch next-generation Starlink Mobile satellites in 2027 and that Starlink would become a “true mobile service,” taking customers from Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile. SpaceX plans to “build out terrestrial” infrastructure using spectrum it bought from EchoStar. On Nov. 4, Qualcomm announced that SpaceX had selected its Dragonwing platforms for Starlink Mobile’s terrestrial 5G base stations. The release says SpaceX plans to begin a nationwide U.S. rollout in 2027, with tens of thousands of sites deployed over a multi-year agreement. Michael Nicolls, a Starlink senior vice president, said in the release that Starlink is building “the first fully-integrated nationwide satellite and terrestrial network that will keep people connected no matter where they are.” The details come from Qualcomm’s own announcement.
That scale is why a dispute in Ukraine matters beyond the battlefield.
What happened in Ukraine
For more than a week in October, speeds on Ukraine’s Starlink and military Starshield service were capped, which hampered the country’s ability to intercept drones. On Oct. 14, Musk wrote on X that Starshield is owned and controlled by the U.S. government. “Any limits on speed or usage are decided by the US military and ultimately POTUS,” he wrote.
On Oct. 24, Musk said Ukraine’s military had broken Starlink’s terms. Using it “for offensive drone strikes to kill people has never been allowed,” he wrote, and the “loophole was closed last week.” He did not say who closed it.
Ukraine disputes that account. Serhii Beskrestnov, a defense technology adviser to President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, wrote that long-standing limits on civilian Starlink in Ukraine make offensive use impossible. Drones on commercial Starlink are held to 70 to 90 km/h inside Ukraine and do not work in Russia, he said. “It’s very strange that Elon Musk doesn’t know about the restrictions on Starlink’s operation in Ukraine,” he wrote.
Zelenskyy said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Ukrainian officials believe the U.S. government was behind the disruptions, which he said followed a “message from [the] American government.” The Trump administration has denied interfering with Ukraine’s Starshield access. Asked who ordered the limits, Trump said, “I wouldn’t tell you if I did know.” Sen. Adam Schiff said Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth should testify before the Senate and that “somebody is lying here.”
Ukraine says speeds are back to where they were before the restrictions.
The nationalization call
In an October episode of his podcast, “The Coffee Klatch,” former Labor Secretary Robert Reich said that if Democrats win, "we got to defund Musk.” He also said Democrats should lay the groundwork for nationalizing Starlink and SpaceX, which he said “should be a public corporation.” Reich said 75% of Musk’s wealth depends on taxpayers, a figure Fox Business noted he gave no evidence for. Musk replied on X: “Stealing companies is a serious crime. Prison for Reich.” Democrats have since won control of Congress.
Musk’s own description of the network cuts in two directions. He calls Starlink a civilian commercial service and Starshield a separate system controlled by the U.S. government.
What nationalizing would take
The Fifth Amendment says private property may not “be taken for public use, without just compensation.” Under the default standard, compensation is fair market value, generally what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller, and courts decide the amount. Claims against the federal government are typically heard in the Court of Federal Claims.
SpaceX is no longer a private company with an uncertain price. It went public on Nasdaq in June at $135 a share, a valuation of $1.77 trillion. KeepTrack put its market value at about $2.2 trillion at the Oct. 9 close. If market value applied, the compensation would be counted in trillions of dollars.
Congress would also have to act. In Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer, the Supreme Court ruled 6-3 in 1952 that President Truman could not seize the nation’s steel mills without authorization from Congress. The Court noted that Congress itself had the power to authorize such a seizure. Congress decides what counts as a public use, and eminent domain is generally exercised through statute. A bill would need to pass both chambers, and overriding a veto takes two-thirds of each.
What the record shows
Three accounts of the Ukraine slowdown are on the table. Musk says Ukraine violated the terms of service. Ukraine says the U.S. government was behind it. The administration denies interfering. No document cited so far settles which is right.
What is not in dispute is the size of the network and where its owner says the lines run: a privately owned constellation with most of the working satellites in orbit, one branch of which Musk says answers to the U.S. military and the president. Taking it over would require an act of Congress and compensation at a price a court would set.
Sources
• Starlink satellite count, KeepTrack
• Orbital briefing, Nov. 1, 2026, Orbital Radar
• SpaceX plans Starlink Mobile service to compete with Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, MacRumors (citing Reuters)
• SpaceX Selects Qualcomm to Accelerate Starlink Mobile’s Nationwide 5G Network, Qualcomm, Nov. 4, 2026
• Musk says SpaceX did restrict Starlink as Ukraine says the tech has been restored, NPR via WUNC
• Ukraine disputes Elon Musk’s claim that its military violated Starlink’s terms of service, AP via WSB-TV
• Defund Musk: Former Clinton cabinet official urges Democrats to target SpaceX founder, Fox Business
• Fifth Amendment, Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
• The Takings Clause of the Constitution: Overview of Supreme Court Jurisprudence on Key Topics, Congressional Research Service, May 22, 2023
• Youngstown Sheet & Tube Co. v. Sawyer (1952), Legal Information Institute, Cornell Law School
• SpaceX valuation history, KeepTrack
US midterm elections have given Democrats control of Congress. What now?, ABC News (Australia)
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