A critical software glitch in the central network caused a total shutdown of SpaceX’s satellite internet service worldwide. Elon Musk issued an apology and committed to corrective measures.
Wednesday night, July 24th, marked a negative milestone for Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by SpaceX. Over two and a half hours, more than six million users globally were completely disconnected from the network. The outage simultaneously affected users in Europe, North America, Asia, and Australia, representing the largest service disruption in the system’s history.
In Spain, initial reports started around 9:00 PM, when Starlink-connected customers began losing access to the internet. Service gradually resumed, with most users regaining connectivity between 11:30 PM and 11:45 PM.
A failure in the central software, not in the orbital infrastructure
The company confirmed that the outage originated from a software failure in the internal systems managing the core network. While specific technical details haven’t been released, all signs point to an error in a system update or configuration that affected both satellite operations and ground stations simultaneously.
This is particularly notable considering Starlink’s infrastructure includes over 6,900 operational satellites out of a total of 8,015 active satellites in low Earth orbit, more than 150 ground stations, over 100 gateways, and 1,500 antennas solely in the U.S.—a distributed architecture that theoretically should have prevented a total system failure.
Elon Musk apologizes and pledges solutions
SpaceX founder and Starlink’s chief advocate, Elon Musk, responded swiftly after the outage. Through a brief message on X (formerly Twitter), he apologized to users and assured that steps are being taken to prevent a recurrence:
“Service will be restored shortly. Sorry for the outage. SpaceX will address the root cause to ensure it doesn’t happen again.”
The official Starlink account also provided real-time updates, acknowledging the seriousness of the outage as an active network disruption. Three hours after the initial message, Starlink confirmed that service had been mostly restored, and two hours later, the issue was declared fully resolved.
In their final statement, the company said:
“The outage was caused by a failure in key internal software services operating the core network. We apologize for the temporary disruption of our service; we are deeply committed to providing a highly reliable network.”
Is there a risk of global dependency?
The outage has reignited discussions about the increasing reliance on private satellite networks worldwide. Starlink not only provides residential and commercial services but is also used by government agencies, emergency services, energy companies, and military entities, especially in areas lacking traditional terrestrial coverage.
Its widespread deployment—and potential use in geopolitical conflicts or crises—turn any technical disruption into a systemic risk. This episode demonstrated that even a system architecture based on thousands of satellites and hundreds of ground stations can be vulnerable to poorly managed software failures.
With the service back online and public apologies issued, the key question remains: what steps will Starlink take to prevent another global outage? In a context where connectivity is critical and competition is intensifying—with Amazon Kuiper and OneWeb as main rivals—SpaceX must demonstrate not only innovation leadership but also operational reliability on a planetary scale.