SpaceX’s satellite internet service Starlink suffered a major international outage on Thursday, leaving tens of thousands of users without internet access for over two hours. The rare disruption prompted a public apology from company executives, including CEO Elon Musk.
The outage began around 3 p.m. Eastern Time (19:00 GMT), according to outage-tracking website Downdetector, which recorded more than 61,000 user reports. The service remained down for approximately two hours and 30 minutes, News.Az reports, citing Al Jazeera.
Starlink’s Vice President of Engineering, Michael Nicolls, said in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that the outage was caused by a “failure of key internal software services that operate the core network.”
“We apologize for the temporary disruption in our service,” Nicolls wrote. “We are deeply committed to providing a highly reliable network, and will fully root cause this issue and ensure it does not occur again.”
Elon Musk, who also owns X, echoed the apology and reassured users:
“Sorry for the outage. SpaceX will remedy root cause to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
The disruption marks one of the most significant breakdowns in Starlink’s short but rapid expansion. Since 2020, SpaceX has launched over 8,000 satellites into low-Earth orbit, building a massive, distributed network that provides high-speed internet to over six million users in 140 countries.
The service has become crucial in rural regions, disaster zones, and even military operations, where traditional cable or fiber internet access is unreliable or unavailable.
While Starlink has earned a reputation for reliability and speed, Thursday’s event sparked speculation online, with some experts questioning whether the glitch could have been caused by a software update gone wrong, a cyberattack, or broader system vulnerability.
SpaceX has not indicated any evidence of foul play but confirmed that an internal investigation is underway.
As the company continues to expand and update its network to meet rising demand for faster speeds and greater bandwidth, analysts say moments like this underscore the challenges of scaling next-generation infrastructure globally — and the importance of transparency in maintaining public trust.
