Internal software failure blamed for 2.5-hour disruption
Elon Musk’s satellite internet service, Starlink, experienced an unexpected and rare global outage today, affecting millions of users across more than 140 countries. Known for its dependable satellite-based connectivity, the network abruptly went offline, leaving users without access to internet services.
According to a report, the disruption stemmed from a significant internal software failure, which caused thousands of Starlink routers to lose connectivity simultaneously. Starlink, often praised for maintaining operations during emergencies and in remote areas, stunned customers with the unprecedented blackout.
While satellite internet is typically more resilient to service interruptions, this failure marked an unusual event in the service’s operational history. Starlink initially acknowledged the problem in a post on X (formerly Twitter), stating: “Starlink is currently in a network outage and we are actively implementing a solution. We appreciate your patience, we’ll share an update once this issue is resolved.”
The network issue has been resolved, and Starlink service has been restored. We understand how important connectivity is and apologize for the disruption.
— Starlink (@Starlink) July 25, 2025
Michael Nicolls, Vice President of Starlink Engineering at SpaceX, later confirmed that the outage lasted for around 2.5 hours and that services were nearly restored.
“Starlink has now mostly recovered from the network outage, which lasted approximately 2.5 hours. The outage was due to the failure of key internal software services that operate the core network,” Nicolls posted. “We apologise for the temporary disruption in our service; we are deeply committed to providing a highly reliable network, and will fully root cause this issue and ensure it does not occur again.”
Starlink has now mostly recovered from the network outage, which lasted approximately 2.5 hours. The outage was due to failure of key internal software services that operate the core network. We apologize for the temporary disruption in our service; we are deeply committed to… https://t.co/ffFYM1Z7tD
— Michael Nicolls (@michaelnicollsx) July 24, 2025
The initial outage notice was posted around 1:35 AM IST on July 25, and a recovery update followed at 3:53 AM IST, offering reassurance to affected users that connectivity had resumed across many regions.
Starlink has yet to release a comprehensive post-mortem, but reassured users that the root cause will be addressed to prevent recurrence.
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