Over the weekend, customers of the satellite Internet service Starlink, which is owned by SpaceX, experienced a global failure. The service was down for several hours, leaving customers unable to access the internet. This outage occurred due to expired security certificates in the ground stations, according to SpaceX Director General Elon Musk who apologized for the disruption on Twitter. Musk also assured customers that the company is analyzing the system for other vulnerabilities to prevent such occurrences in the future.
This is not the only issue that SpaceX has encountered with its Starlink satellites. Observers noted that a number of the new Starlink V2 Mini satellites, launched in late February, had suddenly changed height at the end of March. In response, Musk reported on Twitter that the company is experiencing problems with the new satellites and is planning to reduce some from orbit. The sudden change in height is likely due to issues with the satellites’ propulsion systems, which use electric ion thrusters.