In a surprising twist, Elon Musk's Starlink network experienced a rare global outage on Thursday that left tens of thousands of users offline! 🚀 Around 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), tech enthusiasts across the U.S. and Europe saw their satellite internet connection vanish, with Downdetector recording over 61,000 outage reports.
The interruption, attributed to an internal software failure affecting key network services, prompted swift apologies from both SpaceX and Starlink. Michael Nicolls, VP of Starlink Engineering, mentioned that the team was "actively implementing a solution" and confirmed that service largely resumed after about 2.5 hours.
Elon Musk himself took to X to apologize, assuring everyone that SpaceX is working hard to eliminate the root cause of the glitch. Experts like Doug Madory from internet analysis firm Kentik noted how unusually rare and extensive this outage was, marking it as possibly the longest disruption Starlink has ever faced.
Since its launch, Starlink has grown into a powerhouse satellite network with over 6 million users in approximately 140 countries and territories, connecting diverse communities—even in areas struggling with traditional internet access. This incident serves as a reminder that even the most advanced systems can occasionally face hiccups, pushing companies to improve their technologies and services.
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
