Starlink experienced an outage.
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On July 24, 2025, Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet service, experienced a global outage that lasted approximately 2.5 hours. The outage, which occurred between 3:13 PM ET and 6:23 PM ET, affected millions of users worldwide, including in the United States, Europe, the UK, Asia, the Middle East, and critically Ukraine.
The cause of the network disruption was a failure of central internal software services that control the core network. According to reports, these services were not functioning during the outage. SpaceX did not provide details on the affected software or specific technical issues.
The outage had a significant impact on Ukrainian military forces on the front lines, who rely heavily on Starlink terminals for battlefield communications such as coordinating drone strikes and relaying intelligence. Around 40,000 Starlink terminals used by Ukrainian forces lost connectivity, causing serious communication difficulties during active conflict.
The Ukrainian military's Telegram channel reported the outage, and users worldwide reported issues accessing the Starlink service, with error messages reading "no healthy upstream." According to internet monitoring tool NetBlocks, Starlink connectivity dropped to just 16% of normal levels during the outage.
Elon Musk and Starlink executives publicly acknowledged the outage and apologized, with promises to identify and fix the root cause to prevent future recurrence. The outage underscored concerns about the reliance of both military and civilian entities on privately operated satellite internet infrastructure during critical operations.
In summary:
- The global Starlink outage on July 24, 2025, was caused by a failure of key internal software services that operate the core network.
- The outage lasted about 150 minutes, making it the longest complete outage since the start of the war, according to the Ukrainian army.
- The outage affected users worldwide, including in the United States, Europe, the UK, Asia, the Middle East, and critically Ukraine.
- The outage had a significant impact on Ukrainian military forces on the front lines, who rely heavily on Starlink terminals for battlefield communications.
- Elon Musk and Starlink executives publicly acknowledged the outage and apologized, with promises to identify and fix the root cause to prevent future recurrence.
This event highlights the vulnerability of interconnected satellite internet systems impacting both civilian populations and sensitive military operations. As the world becomes increasingly reliant on technology for communication and critical infrastructure, ensuring the resilience and reliability of these systems will be crucial.
The global outage of Starlink, SpaceX's satellite internet service, on July 24, 2025, was a stark reminder of the significance of technology in modern life, especially in the realm of science and space-and-astronomy, as it affected millions of users worldwide, including military forces relying on it for communication in various conflict zones. The outage was caused by a failure of key internal software services that operate the core network, and its impact underscores the need for enhancing the resilience and reliability of such technologies to ensure their continued service during critical operations.
