The billionaire offered to send his network of 2,000 Starlink satellites to restore connectivity

Remember the recent viral video of a volcanic eruption visible from space? It was from the Tonga-Hunga Ha’apai volcano located on a small island nation of Tonga.

The underwater explosion that was said to be 500 times more forceful than the Hiroshima blast has left a wave of devastation across the island. It even caused a 1.2-meter Tsunami, which flooded the capital Nuku’alofa.

Further adding to the misery, the island’s only undersea cable connecting it to the outside world was severed due to the natural disaster.

While the authorities are running helter-skelter to bring communication back online, US billionaire Elon Musk has offered a much-needed helping hand. In a tweet, Musk asked the people of Tonga if he needs to send Starlink terminals over to restore internet connectivity.

Of course, there are some who liked this move

And some who didn’t…

The Starlink network works in a somewhat similar way to cable TV. It utilizes low orbital satellites to provide internet connectivity. By being closer to the earth’s surface, the latency is reduced, which in turn helps with features like online buffering and video calling.

As of today, there are over 2,000 active Starlink satellites in the orbit, making it the largest satellite constellation around Earth. In the coming years, SpaceX plans to put 12,000 satellites in space.