Musk's Starlink suffers apparent outage as SpaceX launches more satellites

Satellite internet service Starlink, which is owned and operated by Elon Musk's SpaceX, appeared to suffer a brief network outage on Monday, with thousands of reports of service interruptions on Downdetector, a site that logs tech issues.

The outage marked the second in two weeks for Starlink. SpaceX did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The network's July 24 outage lasted for several hours, with SpaceX Vice President of Starlink Engineering Michael Nicolls blaming the matter on "failure of key internal software services that operate the core network" behind Starlink.

That outage followed the launch of T-Mobile's Starlink-powered satellite service, a direct-to-cell-phone service created to keep smartphone users connected "in places no carrier towers can reach," according to T-Mobile's website.

SpaceX provides Starlink internet service to more than six million users across 140 countries, according to the company's website, though churn and subscriber rates are not publicly reported by the company.

The SpaceX Starlink constellation is far larger than any competitor. It currently features over 7,000 operational broadband satellites, according to research by astronomer Jonathan McDowell.

On Monday, Musk's SpaceX successfully launched another group of satellites to add to its Starlink constellation from the Vandenberg Space Force Base in Southern California.

SpaceX is currently aiming to increase the number of launches and landings from Vandenberg from 50 to about 100 annually.

On Thursday last week, the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to oppose the U.S. Space Force application to conduct that higher volume of SpaceX launches there.

The Commission has said that SpaceX and Space Force officials have failed to properly evaluate and report on potential impacts of increased launches on neighboring towns, and local wildlife, among other issues.

President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order seeking to ease environmental regulations seen by Musk, and others, as hampering commercial space operations.