Elon Musk’s satellite internet service Starlink is back online for most users after a brief outage on Monday, according to the tracking website Downdetector.com. The number of U.S. users reporting issues fell below 1,000, down from a peak of more than 43,000.
Starlink’s website had reported a service outage early Monday, with the message, “Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage. Our team is investigating.” The message has since been removed.
The outage was particularly concerning in Ukraine. The commander of Ukraine’s drone forces, Robert Brovdi, reported on Telegram that the Starlink outage affected the entire frontline of the war with Russia, starting at 7:28 a.m. local time. “Another global outage at SpaceX,” he wrote, adding that service began to return about half an hour later.
Ukraine’s forces are heavily reliant on SpaceX’s Starlink terminals for battlefield communications and certain drone operations. According to officials, more than 50,000 terminals are currently in use in Ukraine.
Operated by Musk’s SpaceX, Starlink provides internet services via a constellation of low-Earth orbit satellites and is widely used in remote areas and conflict zones. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
