The Starlink satellite internet network, owned by SpaceX and led by the billionaire Elon Musk, experienced one of its most extensive outages to date on Thursday. According to Reuters, an internal software glitch knocked tens of thousands of users offline worldwide for nearly two and a half hours.
The outage, described as "rare" by several industry experts, sent shockwaves through residential users, businesses, and government agencies that rely on Starlink's satellite constellation for connectivity, particularly in rural and remote areas. Reports of outages poured in from several continents, reflecting the scale of the outage.
While the exact cause of the outage has not been officially confirmed, several cybersecurity experts are suggesting two main possibilities: a software update gone wrong, or a possible cyberattack. SpaceX has not yet released details about the incident, but sources close to the matter indicate that a patch was quickly deployed, restoring connectivity in most of the affected regions.
This type of incident highlights the growing reliance of many infrastructures and users on private satellite services, of which Starlink has become the largest global player with more than 2,6 million subscribers in over 70 countries.
The outage comes as Starlink continues its aggressive expansion, particularly in conflict zones and emerging countries. This technical setback, although quickly resolved, could fuel calls for increased regulation of global satellite networks and greater transparency in cybersecurity and critical incident management.
Despite this incident, Starlink's popularity does not appear to have been affected, and Elon Musk assured in a message posted on X that SpaceX teams were continuing to strengthen the system's resilience to "avoid any repetition of this type of global failure."
