Although there is still a lot of equipment on the ground, much of the infrastructure that powers satellite internet is in space. Satellites must be able to communicate with gateways, which are fixed ground stations on Earth that are linked to existing fiber-optic cables, in order to provide internet access.
It’s unclear how the dishes will be used or distributed now that they’ve arrived in Ukraine, though one Twitter user claimed to be using the service in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. The antennas do require unobstructed access to the sky, which could be difficult in a warzone. Furthermore, the locations of SpaceX’s gateways are not explicitly public information, but internet sleuths on Reddit have discovered some, including one in Ukraine’s neighbor Poland.
