SpaceX differentiates between Starlink and Starshield, but the services are intertwined

By offering two versions of its satellite internet service, SpaceX has attempted to draw a sharp line between its civilian and defense businesses. But despite that delineation, the Starlink and Starshield services appear fundamentally connected.

The fuzzy separation between the products was again highlighted last month when a Starlink outage also impacted Starshield. SpaceX seems to be selling hardware to the government that can connect to both networks, too. And at least two agencies that are outside the Defense Department are using both Starlink and Starshield. 

This approach to SpaceX’s satellite services have raised several questions, including the extent to which commercial and government services share capacity on the company’s satellite network, the potential prioritization of government users over commercial ones, and the blurring of lines between civilian and military infrastructure in space — a growing concern to some humanitarian organizations.  

Sascha Meinrath, a Penn State professor who has studied Starlink’s capabilities, recently published an analysis about the ability of the network to support internet traffic amid increasing use. In comments to FedScoop, he said the undisclosed “potential dependencies” between Starlink and Starshield have left “everyone from the U.S. military to U.S. states looking to bridge the digital divide with unknown downside risks.”

“Starshield and Starlink may share components of a common network architecture — yet the limitations of any shared assets have not been publicly disclosed,” he added. “This introduces serious potential life-safety issues, both for military personnel and to the general public.” 

Officials within the military are now studying Meinrath’s analysis, a person familiar with the matter said.

Starlink, the commercial satellite internet service, is available to government customers, including through resellers and a General Services Administration contract vehicle. SpaceX says that Starlink is not designed for military end users or end-uses and that it is the “recommended product” for U.S. civil, state, and local government agencies.

Starshield, meanwhile, is designed for U.S. national defense use cases for both the DOD and some other government partners, according to SpaceX. The Starshield internet network also appears to be related to other aspects of SpaceX’s defense business, including military satellite launches. 

According to the company, Starshield builds on “end-to-end user data encryption” supplied by the Starlink network by incorporating “additional high-assurance cryptographic capability to host classified payloads and process data securely.” 

A GSA price list for Starlink also differentiates between the two services. “Starlink’s GSA offering is meant for customers needing commercial, high throughput, low-latency broadband connectivity for a wide array of civil government, non-military use cases,” the document states. “Government buyers with military-specific end uses should consider the capabilities provided by SpaceX’s Starshield Services, which were specifically developed with U.S. Department of Defense needs in mind.”

The services aren’t completely separate. In reporting on the Starlink outage last month, a spokesperson for Space Systems Command told FedScoop that Starshield services were also impacted, noting that the commercial SATCOM communication office procures Starshield access “over the Starlink Satellites/network.” 

While the government is also launching Starshield military and intelligence satellites, it seems that the service is still currently dependent on Starlink satellites, too. SpaceX has said the outage was due to a “failure of key internal software services that operate the core network.”

The government itself has blurred the distinction between the SpaceX services. In comments submitted to the California Coastal Commission — which has a role in overseeing space launches from the state — the Air Force said that Starlink launches are essentially a federal government activity, given the service’s dependence on the technology. 

“For many U.S. Government users, Starlink and Starshield are indistinguishable,” the Air Force argued. “Starshield contracts are so sensitive that the work under them is classified. … [T]he distinction between Starshield and Starlink does not exist for some U.S. Government users, and Starlink itself is the basis for exclusive and specialized U.S. Government services and capability.” 

Leadership at the U.S. Space Force has discussed plans to build a “hybrid-mesh network” with SpaceX that will use both defense and commercial satellites and depend on terminals that can also connect to Starlink. 

The Coast Guard, a military branch that operates out of the Department of Homeland Security, is also using both Starshield and Starlink. A spokesperson for the Coast Guard confirmed that the agency started installing both services back in 2023, noting that Starlink is used on some assets for “personal use applications,” including contacting loved ones and accessing the commercial internet. 

“The U.S. Coast Guard has historically relied on commercial satellite systems to improve communications in remote operating environments, enhancing mission effectiveness for Coast Guard assets in areas where connectivity might otherwise be degraded,” the spokesperson said. 

Coast Guard assets outfitted with Starshield antenna “are capable of connecting to both the Starlink and Starshield satellite constellations,” they said, and icebreaking tugs, buoy tenders, and inland construction tenders have been outfitted with Starlink, while most major cutters and patrol boats have had Starshield installed. 

Starshield, meanwhile, “offers additional security and encryption for government and military use in national security operations and uses satellites owned and controlled by the U.S. government,” the spokesperson said, before later saying that “Starshield utilizes the Starlink infrastructure but adds a layer of security and functionality tailored for military and government use.” Notably, Starlink satellites are owned by SpaceX.

When FedScoop inquired for more details on the differentiation between satellite architecture used for Starshield and Starlink, a spokesperson said “questions about satellite connectivity, network architecture, and whether it utilizes shared or separate satellite infrastructure” should be directed to SpaceX. 

“In operational use, both systems have demonstrated levels of connectivity, operational security, and reliability suitable for Coast Guard mission requirements,” the spokesperson said. “As satellite-based systems, they tend to provide a higher level of connectivity in remote, less supported areas in which the Coast Guard frequently operates.”

A now-inactive notice posted by the Coast Guard in April sought sources for the installation of a Starshield Aero Terminal for command-and-control aircraft and a terminal configured with both Starlink and Starshield. 

Last year, Clare Hopper, the leader of the Space Force’s Commercial Satellite Communications Office, said that all of the Air Force’s contracts for satellite internet from SpaceX have been from the Starlink commercial service. “All of our users are on the commercial Starlink constellation,” she said, adding that DOD has “unique service plans that contain privileged capabilities and features that are not available commercially.” 

The State Department, a civilian agency that houses some classified government intelligence work and operates globally, has also made ample use of both Starlink and Starshield. FedScoop has previously reported on the State Department’s interest in Starlink, and the agency has also publicly referenced buying the Starshield service, including for “emergency communications.” Federal spending records show State has sought Starshield, at least at one point, for the U.S. embassies in Kampala and Beirut, for example.

“The Department of State does not comment on internal deliberations or acquisition strategies. However, it is important to note that Starshield is designed for government use,” a spokesperson for the agency said. “Its capabilities support a wide range of functions, including secure communications, connectivity in remote areas, and enhanced operational efficiency, which align with the Department’s mission to advance U.S. foreign policy and diplomatic efforts globally.”

Spending records also show Starshield has been purchased through resellers and via “foreign awardees,” which the spokesperson didn’t address. FedScoop reached out to several resellers who have sold Starshield to the State Department, but did not receive detailed responses. SpaceX did not respond to a request for comment.

Notably, SpaceX has described the division between the two services slightly differently in the past. In correspondence with Congress in March 2023, David Goldman, the company’s senior director of satellite policy, said that “Starlink is designed for consumer and commercial use” and Starshield was developed for the DOD and “designed for government use, with an initial focus on three areas: Earth observation, communications, and hosted payloads.” 

Regardless, there are concerns about the extent to which the two services might be intertwined. 

“It is an interesting wrinkle that we have historically depended on technology that is geographically located within the U.S., far less likely to be attacked in war due to our position in North America,” said Christopher Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, which focuses on community broadband issues.

He continued: “But now, we have millions of Americans that depend on Starlink for Internet access and emergency communications — a service will be quickly neutralized in the event of a major war because the satellites may be part of a military constellation and more practically because they travel over the entire planet and are vulnerable.”