Starlink, Musk's satellite internet service, has been experiencing an outage lasting more than two hours.
In a significant setback for SpaceX's satellite communication service, Starlink, a widespread outage occurred on July 24, 2025, lasting approximately 2.5 hours from 19:15 UTC to 21:44 UTC. The outage affected users worldwide, from North America to Ukraine, where it temporarily disrupted critical military communications.
The cause of the outage was identified as a failure in key internal software services operating the core network, likely a software or configuration issue, potentially linked to a system-wide upgrade. Despite this interruption, Starlink has shown resilience in its performance, continuing to improve latency. As of June 2025, the median peak-hour latency across U.S. customers stood at about 25.7 milliseconds.
The outage was particularly impactful for the Ukrainian army, which relies heavily on Starlink due to the destruction of traditional communication infrastructure during the ongoing conflict. Thousands of Starlink satellites orbiting the Earth at low altitudes provide a crucial lifeline for communication in rural and remote areas, where mobile phone reception is often poor.
In addition to individual customers, Starlink is also used by various airlines for in-flight internet. Customers use compact receiving and transmitting stations on the ground to access Starlink's services.
Starlink, operated by SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk, has committed to root-causing and preventing repeat incidents following the outage. The company has apologised for the disruption and expressed its dedication to maintaining service reliability.
Despite the outage, Starlink's network performance continues to exceed many terrestrial providers, with less than 1% of latency measurements exceeding 55 milliseconds. This level of latency is crucial for user experience in activities such as web browsing, voice/video calls, and gaming.
As Starlink continues to evolve and expand, addressing and learning from incidents like this outage will be crucial in ensuring the service's long-term success and reliability.
- The failure in Starlink's key internal software services, a potential software or configuration issue linked to a system-wide upgrade, highlighted the critical role of science, technology, and space-and-astronomy in the smooth operation of space-based communication services.
- As SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk aim to prevent repeat incidents following the Starlink outage, their commitment to root-causing and learning from incidents underscores the dedication of the scientific and technological community to improving the performance and reliability of such innovative systems.
