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Indian Express
4 days ago
- Business
- Indian Express
SpaceX probes for cause of Starlink's global satellite network outage
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, 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 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 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.
Straits Times
5 days ago
- Business
- Straits Times
SpaceX probes for cause of Starlink's global satellite network outage
Find out what's new on ST website and app. A 2022 photo shows Ukrainians using a Starlink terminal after Russia's retreat from the Ukrainian city of Kherson. SAN FRANCISCO - SpaceX's Starlink satellite network was back up and running on July 25 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 on July 24 (3am on July 25 in Singapore), 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 Major 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 Mr 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 July 24 and said 'we are actively implementing a solution.' The service mostly resumed after 2.5 hours, Mr 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,' Mr Nicolls said, apologising for the disruption and vowing to find its cause. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore SMRT to pay lower fine of $2.4m for EWL disruption; must invest at least $600k to boost reliability Singapore MRT service changes needed to modify 3 East-West Line stations on Changi Airport stretch: LTA Singapore S'pore could have nuclear energy 'within a few years', if it decides on it: UN nuclear watchdog chief Life 'Do you kill children?': Even before independence, S'pore has always loved its over-the-top campaigns Singapore Lung damage, poor brain development, addiction: What vaping does to the body Singapore Tipsy Collective sues former directors, HR head; alleges $14m lost from misconduct, poor decisions Singapore Fine for couple whose catering companies owed $432,000 in salaries to 103 employees Singapore Kopi, care and conversation: How this 20-year-old helps improve the well-being of the elderly Mr Musk also apologised: 'Sorry for the outage. SpaceX will remedy root cause to ensure it doesn't happen again,' the SpaceX chief executive officer 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. Mr 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,' Mr Madory said. As Starlink amasses more than six 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 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 Dr 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 2024. The outage disrupted internet services, affecting 8.5 million Microsoft Windows devices. It was unclear whether the July 25 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 July 25 that Mr 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
Globe and Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Globe and Mail
Starlink global outage briefly halts Ukrainian military communications
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 provider. Ukraine's 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 invasion. Starlink 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 Thursday. Starlink, 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. In Kyiv, Canada's ambassador shows solidarity by standing firm Opinion: Canada must plan for life without Elon Musk's Starlink 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 outage. Oleksandr Dmitriev, the founder of OCHI, a Ukrainian system that centralizes feeds from thousands of drone crews across the front line, 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 internet. Reuters 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 counteroffensive to take back occupied land from Russia. As of April 2025, according to Ukrainian government social media posts, Kyiv has received more than 50,000 Starlink terminals. Although Starlink does not operate in Russia, Ukrainian officials have said that Moscow's troops are also widely using the systems on the front lines 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.
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Yahoo
Ukraine says Starlink's global outage hit its military communications
By Max Hunder KYIV (Reuters) -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 provider. Ukraine's 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 invasion. Starlink 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 Thursday. Starlink, 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 outage. Oleksandr Dmitriev, the founder of OCHI, a Ukrainian system that centralises 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 towards local communication systems that are not reliant on the internet. Reuters 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 Russia. As of April 2025, according to Ukrainian government social media posts, Kyiv has received more than 50,000 Starlink terminals. Although 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, apologising for the disruption and vowing to find its root cause. Solve the daily Crossword
Time of India
5 days ago
- Time of India
Ukraine says Starlink's global outage hit its military communications
By Max Hunder KYIV: 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 provider. Ukraine's 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 invasion. Starlink 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 Thursday. He 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. Oleksandr Dmitriev, the founder of OCHI, a Ukrainian system that centralises 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 towards local communication systems that are not reliant on the internet. Although 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.
