A new wave of private companies have revolutionized the business of space, and raced ahead of NASA and other government-run space programs around the globe. Elon Musk’s Starlink, the best-known of these, has proven crucial to the Ukrainian war effort — but also drew criticism when Musk refused to extend its coverage as far as the Ukrainians would like. Planet and other commercial satellite imagery providers that have revolutionized information collection, helping large organizations and city and state government clients to do everything from monitor crops and weather to urban planning. But now they, like Starlink, find themselves making choices about national security that have typically been made by governments, not companies.
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