SpaceX's Starlink internet service saw an unusual and severe disruption on Thursday, resulting in widespread service outages across the United States and Europe. The Starlink outage today is one of the most severe service outages since the satellite service became operational, affecting a significant percentage of its 6 million subscribers worldwide.

The blackout began around 3 p.m. EDT, with customers from various locations around the world reporting outages on social media and outage maps. A real-time service outage tracking service named Downdetector registered over 61,000 reports in a matter of hours since the breakdown.

Starlink confirmed the problem in a tweet on its official X (formerly Twitter) handle: "We are actively implementing a solution."

Later in the day, Starlink Engineering Vice President Michael Nicolls provided more details. "The outage was caused by failure of internal software services driving the core network," Nicolls posted to X. He did confirm that engineers acted with haste to bring services back online, and those were largely restored in two and a half hours. "Sorry for the disruption, and we are working to find the root cause," he said.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also personally apologized, posting on X: "Sorry for the outage. SpaceX will fix root cause to ensure it doesn't happen again."

Starlink's longest service disruption ever

Yesterday's Starlink outage was not only large in scale, but also long-lived. Doug Madory, director of internet analysis at Kentik, had the following to say regarding the extent and severity of the outage. "This is likely the longest outage in Starlink's history, at least since it became a major provider," he said.

Madory testified that network outages are not rare in the internet industry but are extremely rare for Starlink, which has gained a reputation for good service even in the most distant places and disaster areas.

This unexpected blackout gave rise to speculations of possible causes—ranging from internal software malfunction to external cyber attacks. Nothing points in this direction at this juncture, but security experts and analysts would be keeping a close eye on the situation in the coming days.

An increasing number of users—and increasing demands

The Starlink outage today follows a period where SpaceX has been aggressively building out the Starlink network. The company has added more than 8,000 low-Earth orbit satellites since 2020, building a hardened, distributed internet service accessible from nearly any point on Earth.

Starlink has access in over 140 countries and is being utilized most extensively by residents of rural and remote locations who previously had little or no access to fast internet. The network is also being utilized increasingly by government agencies, airlines, trucking firms, and shipping firms.

Despite the failure on Thursday, the service has been widely hailed as a revolutionary step in global internet connectivity.

Part of a broader vision: direct-to-cell and emergency services

SpaceX has also been developing Starlink's capability over recent months. One of the most eagerly awaited capabilities is its partnership with T-Mobile to provide direct-to-cell text messaging. This capability, which should become available at some point later in 2025, will offer emergency and basic connectivity to regions where cellular coverage is not available.

The Starlink outage today highlight the significance of such innovations—and the steep price paid when international users rely on satellite networks for seamless service.

User trust tested but not broken

Although Starlink outage today undermines user confidence temporarily, analysts are convinced that the rapid response, transparency, and apology by Elon Musk will help keep confidence intact. Starlink's high brand loyalty and problem-solving capacity of SpaceX in the past still assure.

Customers posted mixed comments on the internet—some in anger, others simply relieved that the service was up and running again so quickly. One Idaho rural customer said, "It's the first time in two years that we've had a problem. We use it daily, but to be honest, the response was quick."

Conclusion: Reminder of the challenges in space-based internet

Starlink outage today is a reminder that even space-based technology as advanced as today's can fail. With an increasing number of satellites being launched by SpaceX, redundancy being enhanced, and new services being introduced, the pressure to be round-the-clock reliable will only grow.

For the moment, service has been restored, and customers everywhere are back online. But the event will certainly galvanize Starlink to reconsider and strengthen its underlying infrastructure—and remind us all why ongoing resiliency and scalability are the key to the future of global access to the internet.