In a shocking turn of events, Elon Musk's groundbreaking Starlink network has plunged into a worldwide internet blackout, leaving countless users stranded without connectivity. Reports of this massive outage began flooding in on Thursday evening at approximately 9 PM CET.

Six hours post-incident, Musk took to X, announcing that the issues had been addressed and services were back online. He expressed gratitude for users' patience, stating, "The network issue has been resolved, and Starlink service has been restored. We understand how important connectivity is and apologize for the disruption."

Despite Musk's reassurance, many Starlink users remained vocal on Down Detector, claiming their connections were still down by Friday morning. Over 60,000 reports confirmed widespread issues, with many citing a "total blackout" experience.

Affected users spanned the globe—from Europe to the United States, Asia, Africa, and Australia—reporting persistent problems. Specific locations mentioned include Colombia, Sardinia, Stockholm, and New Hampshire, with many receiving error messages indicating "no healthy upstream."

Musk reassured users once more, stating, "Service will be restored shortly. Sorry for the outage. SpaceX will remedy root cause to ensure it doesn’t happen again.” This is particularly concerning for nations like Ukraine that heavily rely on Starlink for their internet access.

What is Starlink?

Starlink, a visionary telecommunications provider and part of Musk's SpaceX, has transformed the way we access the internet. With its satellite internet constellation, it delivers mobile broadband to an impressive 130 countries and territories.

The ambitious goal? To launch a staggering 12,000 satellites, with plans to expand to over 34,000 in the future. Just a day before this outage, SpaceX announced rapid growth in its direct-to-cell-phone service, raising questions about any potential links to the current debacle.

As the situation develops, users across the globe await clarity on the cause of this unprecedented outage and its repercussions for one of the most ambitious projects in satellite internet.