The Kaipher Editorial Team 
Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite internet experienced a one-hour global outage beginning around 12:35 a.m. ET on Monday, September 15, disrupting tens of thousands of users including Ukrainian forces on active battlefields. Service complaints peaked at more than 43,000 reports before dropping to under 1,000 by 1:15 a.m. ET, according to Downdetector (The Independent).
Ukrainian Military Communications Impacted
Major Robert “Madyar” Brovdi, commander of Ukraine’s unmanned systems force, reported on Telegram that “Starlink is once again down across the entire front line,” with service failing at 7:28 a.m. local time in Kyiv (Kyiv Independent). The disruption particularly affected Ukrainian forces who depend heavily on Starlink for battlefield communications and drone operations, with more than 50,000 terminals currently active in the war-torn country.
Approximately 60% of users reported internet connectivity issues while 40% faced complete service blackouts. Major U.S. cities including Seattle, San Francisco, Phoenix, Dallas, Houston, Atlanta, and Chicago experienced disruptions, alongside international users in Europe and other regions.
Swift Recovery Amid Geomagnetic Storm
Starlink briefly acknowledged the disruption with a website message: “Starlink is currently experiencing a service outage. Our team is investigating.” The statement was removed as service returned, with Brovdi reporting connectivity was “gradually” being restored approximately 30 minutes after the initial failure.
SpaceX has not provided an official explanation, though the outage coincided with a G3-level geomagnetic storm that began September 14—events that can disrupt satellite operations and low-Earth orbit systems like Starlink’s constellation.
Pattern of Recent Disruptions
This marks the second major Starlink outage in two months, following a 2.5-hour disruption in July. Michael Nicolls, Starlink’s VP of engineering, attributed the July incident to “failure of key internal software services that operate the core network,” while Musk apologized and promised to “remedy root cause.” The repeated outages raise concerns about over-dependence on the service in conflict zones where Starlink has become critical infrastructure, with Ukraine receiving terminals from multiple countries—including nearly 30,000 units from Poland alone since 2022.
