【By Observer Net, Qi Qian】According to Xinhua News Agency, the Starlink satellite internet system, operated by American company SpaceX, experienced a failure on July 24, causing about 61,000 users worldwide to lose internet connectivity. The company later stated that services had been restored and that it was investigating the cause of the failure.

On the local time of the 25th, Robert Brovdi, commander of Ukraine's drone forces, said that the Starlink system used by the Ukrainian military was interrupted for two and a half hours from late evening on the 24th to early morning on the 25th.

"The entire Starlink system on the front line has been paralyzed," Brovdi wrote on the social media platform "Telegram" late on the 24th. "Operations were conducted without video signal visibility, and battlefield reconnaissance relied on attack drones." Later, he updated that the problem had been resolved by 1 a.m. on the morning of the 25th.

Brovdi stated that this incident highlighted the risk of the Ukrainian military's over-reliance on the Starlink system and called for diversification of communication and connection methods.

Alexander Demidryev, founder of the Ukrainian non-profit digital system OCHI, said that this interruption showed the "huge risk" of using cloud services to command troops and transmit data from battlefield drones. He pointed out that "if the internet connection is cut, combat capability is almost completely lost," and urged the Ukrainian military to shift to local communication systems that do not rely on the internet.

Andrey Kovalenko, director of the Center for Counteracting Disinformation at the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council, responded on the 25th that the interruption of Starlink operations was not only in Ukraine, but also other countries around the world experienced issues with their Starlink systems.

In December 2022, Ukrainian troops used Starlink on the frontline. IC Photo

Data from the network fault tracking platform "Network Detector" website showed that this internet outage began around 3:00 AM Beijing Time on the 25th (15:00 US Eastern Time on the 24th), with approximately 61,000 users in the United States, Europe, and other regions reporting Starlink network outages. The operator later confirmed the service disruption, stating, "We are actively seeking solutions."

Michael Nichols, vice president of the Starlink project, said later that the outage lasted about two and a half hours and that services have basically been restored.

According to Nichols' statement, this outage was caused by a failure in a critical internal software service running the core network. He apologized to users for the outage and promised to thoroughly investigate the cause of the failure, "to ensure that such events do not occur again."

On the 24th, Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, also posted on the social media platform X, expressing his apology for the outage.

Starlink responds to the accident cause

Starlink is a system developed and operated by the American company SpaceX, which provides high-speed internet connections through a large number of low-orbit satellites. Since the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the United States has provided a large number of Starlink terminals to Ukraine.

According to the introduction, the Ukrainian military highly relies on tens of thousands of Starlink terminals for battlefield communications and some drone operations. These terminals have proven their ability to resist eavesdropping and signal interference over the past three and a half years of fighting.

Although Starlink is not operating in Russia, Ukrainian officials stated that Russian forces have widely used the system on the front lines. In response, Musk previously stated that the company has never sold Starlink terminals to Russia. Analysts suggest that new users must go through identity verification to use Starlink services, so it is possible that Russian forces obtained Starlink terminals from Ukrainian soldiers.

It is worth noting that since the start of the Russia-Ukraine conflict, Starlink services have always been a politically charged issue.

In early October 2022, Musk once called for an end to the Russia-Ukraine conflict and proposed the independence of the eastern region of Ukraine and Ukraine declaring neutrality. This proposal was strongly criticized by Ukrainian officials. At the same time, media exposed Musk's letter in September of the same year to the US military, where he complained about financial difficulties and requested the Pentagon to pay for the Starlink service for the Ukrainian military. Soon after, Musk said he was considering withdrawing SpaceX's Starlink services in Ukraine.

Previously, there were reports that Musk's threat to stop supplying Starlink caused great dissatisfaction at the Pentagon. Not long after, Musk made a complete turn-around, stating that SpaceX would continue to provide financial support for its Starlink project in Ukraine, "no matter how much money it costs."

In September 2023, a biography of Musk revealed that Musk had ordered the shutdown of Starlink services near Crimea, leading to the failure of Ukrainian unmanned boats attacking Russian warships. Musk responded by saying that Ukraine had urgently requested to activate the Starlink to Sevastopol port, intending to sink most of the Russian warships moored there. "If I had agreed, then SpaceX would have become an accomplice in a major war and escalation of conflict."

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