Latest news with #Robert Brovdi
RNZ News
5 days ago
- Business
- RNZ News
SpaceX seeks cause of Starlink's global satellite network outage
Starlink is a satellite internet provider. Photo: 123RF SpaceX's Starlink satellite network was back up and running on Friday (local time) as engineers hunted for the root cause of one of its biggest international outages the night before, a rare disruption for the powerful internet system set off by an internal software failure. Users in the US and Europe began experiencing the outage at around 3pm EDT Thursday (7am NZST Friday), according to Downdetector, a crowdsourced outage tracker that said as many as 61,000 user reports to the site were made. In Ukraine, where troops rely heavily on Starlink for battlefield communications, the outage affected combat operations as service was "down across the entire front", said Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine's drone forces. Starlink, active in roughly 140 countries and territories and used by a growing number of militaries and government agencies, is a key source of revenue for Elon Musk's SpaceX. The network has grown rapidly since 2020 into a disruptive force in the satellite communications industry. Starlink acknowledged the outage on its X account on Thursday and said "we are actively implementing a solution." The service mostly resumed after two and a half hours, Michael Nicolls, SpaceX vice president of Starlink Engineering, wrote on X. By 8pm, the company wrote on X that the "network issue has been resolved, and Starlink service has been restored". "The outage was due to failure of key internal software services that operate the core network," Nicolls said, apologising for the disruption and vowing to find its cause. Musk also apologised: "Sorry for the outage. SpaceX will remedy root cause to ensure it doesn't happen again," the SpaceX chief executive wrote on X. The outage was a rare hiccup for SpaceX's most commercially sensitive business. Experts speculated whether the service, known for its resilience and speedy development, was beset by a glitch, a botched software update or perhaps a cyberattack. Doug Madory, an expert at the internet analysis firm Kentik, said such a sweeping global outage was unusual. "This is likely the longest outage ever for Starlink, at least while it became a major service provider," Madory said. As Starlink amasses more than 6 million users, SpaceX has focused in recent months on updating its network to accommodate demands for higher speed and bandwidth. The company, in a partnership with T-Mobile, is also expanding the constellation with larger, more powerful satellites to offer direct-to-cell text messaging services, a line of business in which mobile phone users can send emergency text messages through the network in rural areas. SpaceX has launched more than 8000 Starlink satellites since 2020, building a uniquely distributed network in low-Earth orbit that has attracted intense demand from militaries, transportation industries and consumers in rural areas with poor access to traditional, fiber-based internet. "I'd speculate this is a bad software update, not entirely dissimilar to the CrowdStrike mess with Windows last year, or a cyberattack," said Gregory Falco, director of a space and cybersecurity laboratory at Cornell University. An update to CrowdStrike's widely used cybersecurity software led to worldwide flight cancellations and impacted industries around the globe in July last year. The outage disrupted internet services, affecting 8.5 million Microsoft Windows devices. It was unclear whether Thursday's outage affected SpaceX's other satellite-based services that rely on the Starlink network. Starshield, the company's military satellite business unit, has billions of dollars' worth of contracts with the Pentagon and US intelligence agencies. Separately, Reuters reported on Friday that Musk ordered a partial shutdown of Starlink during a pivotal push by Ukraine to retake territory in its war with Russia in late September 2022. - Reuters
Reuters
5 days ago
- Business
- Reuters
SpaceX probes for cause of Starlink's global satellite network outage
July 24 (Reuters) - SpaceX's Starlink satellite network was back up and running on Friday as engineers hunted for the root cause of one of its biggest international outages the night before, a rare disruption for the powerful internet system set off by an internal software failure. Users in the U.S. and Europe began experiencing the outage at around 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT) Thursday, according to Downdetector, a crowdsourced outage tracker that said as many as 61,000 user reports to the site were made. In Ukraine, where troops rely heavily on Starlink for battlefield communications, the outage affected combat operations as service was "down across the entire front," said Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine's drone forces. Starlink, active in roughly 140 countries and territories and used by a growing number of militaries and government agencies, is a key source of revenue for Elon Musk's SpaceX. The network has grown rapidly since 2020 into a disruptive force in the satellite communications industry. Starlink acknowledged the outage on its X account Thursday and said "we are actively implementing a solution." The service mostly resumed after 2.5 hours, Michael Nicolls, SpaceX vice president of Starlink Engineering, wrote on X. By 8 p.m., the company wrote on X that the "network issue has been resolved, and Starlink service has been restored." "The outage was due to failure of key internal software services that operate the core network," Nicolls said, apologizing for the disruption and vowing to find its cause. Musk also apologized: "Sorry for the outage. SpaceX will remedy root cause to ensure it doesn't happen again," the SpaceX CEO wrote on X. The outage was a rare hiccup for SpaceX's most commercially sensitive business. Experts speculated whether the service, known for its resilience and speedy development, was beset by a glitch, a botched software update or perhaps a cyberattack. Doug Madory, an expert at the internet analysis firm Kentik, said such a sweeping global outage was unusual. "This is likely the longest outage ever for Starlink, at least while it became a major service provider," Madory said. As Starlink amasses more than 6 million users, SpaceX has focused in recent months on updating its network to accommodate demands for higher speed and bandwidth. The company, in a partnership with T-Mobile (TMUS.O), opens new tab, is also expanding the constellation with larger, more powerful satellites to offer direct-to-cell text messaging services, a line of business in which mobile phone users can send emergency text messages through the network in rural areas. SpaceX has launched more than 8,000 Starlink satellites since 2020, building a uniquely distributed network in low-Earth orbit that has attracted intense demand from militaries, transportation industries and consumers in rural areas with poor access to traditional, fiber-based internet. "I'd speculate this is a bad software update, not entirely dissimilar to the CrowdStrike mess with Windows last year, or a cyberattack," said Gregory Falco, director of a space and cybersecurity laboratory at Cornell University. An update to CrowdStrike's (CRWD.O), opens new tab widely used cybersecurity software led to worldwide flight cancellations and impacted industries around the globe in July last year. The outage disrupted internet services, affecting 8.5 million Microsoft (MSFT.O), opens new tab Windows devices. It was unclear whether Thursday's outage affected SpaceX's other satellite-based services that rely on the Starlink network. Starshield, the company's military satellite business unit, has billions of dollars' worth of contracts with the Pentagon and U.S. intelligence agencies. Separately, Reuters reported on Friday that Musk ordered a partial shutdown of Starlink during a pivotal push by Ukraine to retake territory in its war with Russia in late September 2022.
Arab News
5 days ago
- Business
- Arab News
Ukraine says Starlink's global outage hit its military communications
Ukraine's forces are heavily reliant on thousands of SpaceX's Starlink terminals for battlefield communications'Combat missions were performed without a (video) feed, battlefield reconnaissance was done with strike (drones),' Brovdi wroteKYIV: Starlink systems used by Ukrainian military units were down for two and a half hours overnight, a senior commander said, part of a global issue that disrupted the satellite Internet forces are heavily reliant on thousands of SpaceX's Starlink terminals for battlefield communications and some drone operations, as they have proved resistant to espionage and signal jamming throughout the three and a half years of fighting Russia's experienced one of its biggest international outages on Thursday when an internal software failure knocked tens of thousands of users offline.'Starlink is down across the entire front,' Robert Brovdi, the commander of Ukraine's drone forces, wrote on Telegram at 10:41 p.m. (1941 GMT) on which has more than 6 million users across roughly 140 countries and territories, later acknowledged the global outage on its X account and said 'we are actively implementing a solution.'Brovdi updated his post later to say that by about 1:05 a.m. on Friday the issue had been resolved. He said the incident had highlighted the risk of reliance on the systems, and called for communication and connectivity methods to be diversified.'Combat missions were performed without a (video) feed, battlefield reconnaissance was done with strike (drones),' Brovdi wrote.A Ukrainian drone commander, speaking anonymously to discuss sensitive matters, told Reuters his unit had to postpone several combat operations as a result of the Dmitriev, the founder of OCHI, a Ukrainian system that centralizes feeds from thousands of drone crews across the frontline, told Reuters the outage showed that relying on cloud services to command units and relay battlefield drone reconnaissance was a 'huge risk.''If connection to the Internet is lost ... the ability to conduct combat operations is practically gone,' he said, calling for a move toward local communication systems that are not reliant on the reported on Friday that Starlink owner Elon Musk issued an order in 2022 to cut Starlink coverage in certain areas of Ukraine as Ukrainian forces were waging a counter-offensive to take back occupied land from of April 2025, according to Ukrainian government social media posts, Kyiv has received more than 50,000 Starlink Starlink does not operate in Russia, Ukrainian officials have said that Moscow's troops are also widely using the systems on the frontlines in Ukraine.'The outage was due to failure of key internal software services that operate the core network,' Starlink vice president Michael Nicolls wrote on X, apologizing for the disruption and vowing to find its root cause.
CNN
16-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Ukrainian military leaders stress it would be ‘nearly impossible' to fight Russia without drones
Ukraine's military commander in charge of the country's drone warfare program urged the US and NATO countries alike on Wednesday to learn from Kyiv's use of the technology on the battlefield so in the future there are not 'hard questions from your children [about] when [their] father will come back.' 'We paid with lives to get this expertise,' Maj. Robert 'Magyar' Brovdi, the head of the Ukrainian military's new Unmanned Systems branch, said during a panel discussion at the Association of the US Army's meeting in Wiesbaden, Germany. 'But you can get this expertise out of us, and we will support you the same way you've supported us during this war.' Brovdi spoke at the AUSA conference alongside Brig. Gen. Volodymyr Horbatiuk, the deputy chief of the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They repeatedly emphasized the importance of using drones in warfare. Horabiuk said it is 'nearly impossible' to conduct the majority of their warfighting functions without drones, listing off examples of their use including for logistics on the battlefield and intercepting aerial threats, as well as striking assets deep inside Russia — something the world watched in June when Ukraine conducted a large-scale drone attack on Russian airbases thousands of miles from the front lines. Brovdi and Horbatiuk's comments come just two days after President Donald Trump vowed to send more air defenses to Ukraine, making a stark shift in his approach to the war as he has grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid efforts to reach a peace agreement. They also came hours after Russia launched a barrage of hundreds of drones towards four key regions in Ukraine, hitting multiple cities including the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Asked Wednesday what the audience at the conference should know about fighting against the Russians, Horbatiuk answered bluntly, 'Don't trust Russia.' The packed ballroom, full of NATO military and civilian defense industry officials, broke into laughter and applause. 'Remember that any agreement with them doesn't cost even the paper.' Brovdi elaborated further on Wednesday, telling CNN that putting faith in Putin is 'not respectful to yourself.' Brovdi, who has a background in business, was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine in May this year. Speaking to CNN on Wednesday through a translator, he told the story of visiting a 'huge' NATO military base in Europe roughly a year ago and being asked by his hosts what he thought about the base and its defenses. 'I answered the following, that four of my battle crews standing only 10km away from this base can destroy it fully in 15 minutes, it would look like Pearl Harbor during the second World War,' Brovdi said through his translator. According to an official release by the office of the president of Ukraine, Brovdi founded his drone reconnaissance team known as 'Magyar's Birds' in the spring of 2022, which has since grown to a full brigade. Brovdi told CNN on Wednesday that he began using drones because he and his troops, an infantry unit, were fired upon by tanks, artillery, 'and we [could] not see anything, who was trying to kill us.' They began using drones for reconnaissance, to see who was firing on their position, and then began buying drones used typically for sports and gaming. 'We understood we could put a bit of ammunition on board, and we can deliver it with it,' he said through his translator. 'And this is how it starts. It was 27 people, nowadays it's much more than 2,000.' According to the release from the office of the president, Brovdi and his unit — 95% of which he said were civilians before the war began, including DJs and artists — had destroyed more than 5,000 enemy targets, and hit more than 10,000 more. Brovdi told the audience at AUSA that this was only his second time leaving the country since the war began in 2022, and that he would be back on the battlefield by Thursday. He dryly quipped that 'Putin's propaganda named me as the most wanted enemy, so it [could] be the last time you see me, here.' The two commanders thanked the countries present at the conference for their support of Ukraine and urged allies and partners to learn from Ukraine's efforts. Horbatiuk expressed 'from the bottom of [his] heart' the appreciation for support to Ukraine and dedication. 'I would like to ask you,' he said in a parting line, 'to be more decisive.'
CNN
16-07-2025
- Politics
- CNN
Ukrainian military leaders stress it would be ‘nearly impossible' to fight Russia without drones
Ukraine's military commander in charge of the country's drone warfare program urged the US and NATO countries alike on Wednesday to learn from Kyiv's use of the technology on the battlefield so in the future there are not 'hard questions from your children [about] when [their] father will come back.' 'We paid with lives to get this expertise,' Maj. Robert 'Magyar' Brovdi, the head of the Ukrainian military's new Unmanned Systems branch, said during a panel discussion at the Association of the US Army's meeting in Wiesbaden, Germany. 'But you can get this expertise out of us, and we will support you the same way you've supported us during this war.' Brovdi spoke at the AUSA conference alongside Brig. Gen. Volodymyr Horbatiuk, the deputy chief of the general staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They repeatedly emphasized the importance of using drones in warfare. Horabiuk said it is 'nearly impossible' to conduct the majority of their warfighting functions without drones, listing off examples of their use including for logistics on the battlefield and intercepting aerial threats, as well as striking assets deep inside Russia — something the world watched in June when Ukraine conducted a large-scale drone attack on Russian airbases thousands of miles from the front lines. Brovdi and Horbatiuk's comments come just two days after President Donald Trump vowed to send more air defenses to Ukraine, making a stark shift in his approach to the war as he has grown increasingly frustrated with Russian President Vladimir Putin amid efforts to reach a peace agreement. They also came hours after Russia launched a barrage of hundreds of drones towards four key regions in Ukraine, hitting multiple cities including the hometown of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. Asked Wednesday what the audience at the conference should know about fighting against the Russians, Horbatiuk answered bluntly, 'Don't trust Russia.' The packed ballroom, full of NATO military and civilian defense industry officials, broke into laughter and applause. 'Remember that any agreement with them doesn't cost even the paper.' Brovdi elaborated further on Wednesday, telling CNN that putting faith in Putin is 'not respectful to yourself.' Brovdi, who has a background in business, was awarded the title of Hero of Ukraine in May this year. Speaking to CNN on Wednesday through a translator, he told the story of visiting a 'huge' NATO military base in Europe roughly a year ago and being asked by his hosts what he thought about the base and its defenses. 'I answered the following, that four of my battle crews standing only 10km away from this base can destroy it fully in 15 minutes, it would look like Pearl Harbor during the second World War,' Brovdi said through his translator. According to an official release by the office of the president of Ukraine, Brovdi founded his drone reconnaissance team known as 'Magyar's Birds' in the spring of 2022, which has since grown to a full brigade. Brovdi told CNN on Wednesday that he began using drones because he and his troops, an infantry unit, were fired upon by tanks, artillery, 'and we [could] not see anything, who was trying to kill us.' They began using drones for reconnaissance, to see who was firing on their position, and then began buying drones used typically for sports and gaming. 'We understood we could put a bit of ammunition on board, and we can deliver it with it,' he said through his translator. 'And this is how it starts. It was 27 people, nowadays it's much more than 2,000.' According to the release from the office of the president, Brovdi and his unit — 95% of which he said were civilians before the war began, including DJs and artists — had destroyed more than 5,000 enemy targets, and hit more than 10,000 more. Brovdi told the audience at AUSA that this was only his second time leaving the country since the war began in 2022, and that he would be back on the battlefield by Thursday. He dryly quipped that 'Putin's propaganda named me as the most wanted enemy, so it [could] be the last time you see me, here.' The two commanders thanked the countries present at the conference for their support of Ukraine and urged allies and partners to learn from Ukraine's efforts. Horbatiuk expressed 'from the bottom of [his] heart' the appreciation for support to Ukraine and dedication. 'I would like to ask you,' he said in a parting line, 'to be more decisive.'
