In 2020, researchers at the University of Texas at Austin — backed by US Army funding — claimed that, with a simple software upgrade, SpaceX’s Starlink satellite mega-constellation could serve as a low-cost backup to traditional GPS. Because the satellites orbit at an altitude of just 340 miles, their signals are stronger at ground level than GPS satellites’, which could make them harder to jam. They might be harder to spoof, too, because the satellites’ antennas are more directional than the ones used by GPS satellites. Low orbit satellites “see” a smaller area of the Earth’s surface than a GPS satellite, but SpaceX’s Starlink constellation has enough satellites to overcome that obstacle — the far north and south would be the main places coverage might be an issue. The UT Austin researchers and Army officials met with SpaceX about the idea, but while the company seemed interested at first, CEO Elon Musk eventually shut down the discussions, according to Todd Humphreys, one of the UT Austin researchers. “Elon told the leaders we spoke to: every other LEO [low Earth orbit] communications network has gone into bankruptcy,” Humphreys told MIT Technology Review. “And so we [SpaceX] have to focus completely on staying out of bankruptcy. We cannot afford any distractions.”