SpaceX‘s Starlink satellite internet suffered a significant global outage on Thursday, knocking tens of thousands of users offline. The disruption lasted for approximately two hours and 30 minutes, prompting an apology from senior executives, including founder Elon Musk. According to Michael Nicolls, Starlink’s vice president of Starlink Engineering, the outage was caused by a “failure of key internal software services that operate the core network”.
Nicolls explained that the company is deeply committed to providing a highly reliable network and will fully root cause the issue to ensure it does not occur again. Musk also apologized for the outage, saying “Sorry for the outage. SpaceX will remedy root cause to ensure it doesn’t happen again”. The outage affected users worldwide, with Downdetector, a crowdsourced outage tracker, reporting over 61,000 user reports.
The outage was a rare hiccup for SpaceX’s most commercially sensitive business, which has experienced rapid growth and attracted intense demand from militaries, transportation industries, and consumers in rural areas with poor access to traditional internet. Starlink has focused heavily on updating its network to accommodate demands for higher speed and bandwidth in recent months.
The company’s ability to provide reliable internet services is crucial for its users, many of whom rely on the service for critical communication and online activities. The outage highlights the importance of robust network infrastructure and the need for companies like SpaceX to invest in ensuring the reliability and resilience of their systems.
Starlink has become a significant player in the global internet market, with over six million users across roughly 140 countries and territories. The company’s uniquely distributed network in low-Earth orbit has attracted intense demand from various sectors. SpaceX has launched more than 8,000 Starlink satellites since 2020, and the service has become a vital lifeline for many users worldwide.
The company’s commitment to providing reliable and high-speed internet services has made it a leader in the satellite internet market. However, the outage highlights the need for continued investment in network infrastructure and reliability to ensure that users can rely on the service when it matters most.