What is Starlink — how does Elon Musk's satellite Internet work

On Thursday, July 24, a large-scale failure occurred in the Starlink satellite communications system owned by the American company SpaceX. According to the Downdetector website, more than 60,000 user complaints were recorded during the time of the problems. Read about what Starlink is, how it works and in which countries it is available in the Izvestia article.

What is Starlink?

Starlink is a "constellation" of several thousand satellites orbiting in low Earth orbit. Their main task is to provide access to high—speed broadband Internet anywhere in the world, even in the middle of the ocean. The devices belong to SpaceX, owned by American entrepreneur Elon Musk.

Satellites are launched into orbit in groups using SpaceX rockets. A special reusable stage has been developed for their launch, which returns to Earth after each mission.

The history of the Starlink Satellite Internet

The Starlink project was officially launched by Elon Musk in early 2015. Then the billionaire announced that he was going to direct efforts to create a global communication system. He also noted that he considers Starlink as one of the tools for Mars exploration. According to him, the satellite system will provide the colonists with communications, and the income received from it on Earth can be used to develop a city on the red planet.

In 2016, SpaceX submitted an application to the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for the deployment of the first constellation of 4,425 satellites. In February 2018, prototype satellites called Tintin A and Tintin B were launched. Next, in May 2019, the first group of 60 satellites was launched into low-Earth orbit.

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In November 2020, users gained access to the beta version of the technology, and a year later its commercial use began. In 2023, Musk announced that Starlink had stopped making losses.

To date, there are over 6,000 active Starlink satellites in low-Earth orbit. They provide Internet to about 6 million people worldwide.

How Starlink works and looks like

The Starlink satellite is a device consisting of many flat panels weighing 260 kg. Each of them is equipped with several phased array antennas that provide broadband connectivity for users. The satellite receives energy from two solar panels and a high-capacity battery, and maneuvers using ion thrusters.

The user connects to Starlink via an individual terminal, which includes a satellite dish, a router and a power supply. After installation, the equipment automatically connects to the nearest satellite, and when it leaves the access zone, switches to another device. For the correct operation of the system, a ground gateway station must be located nearby, through which data is exchanged between satellites and terminals.

Unlike other satellite Internet providers, Starlink puts its devices not into geostationary orbit (35,786 km from Earth), but into near—Earth orbit - only 550 km from the surface of the planet. Due to this, satellites can exchange a large amount of data with terminals in less time, which allows them to maintain a high-speed connection with delays from 15 to 40 ms. The traffic speed corresponds to the standard of the fifth generation of mobile communications (5G) — 1 Gbit/s.

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The monthly payment for individual Starlink users ranges from $50 to $165. There are also business rates.

Where is Starlink available?

Today, Starlink is available in 140 countries on all continents. You can connect to it in the USA, Canada, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, in most European countries, as well as in Japan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia and some African countries.

Starlink does not officially operate in Russia. And although terminals for connecting to satellites can be found on marketplaces, their use is considered illegal and may entail administrative liability.

Belarus, China, Iran, North Korea and a number of other countries are also on Starlink's "stop list".

Starlink in Ukraine

In February 2022, Elon Musk announced the launch of Starlink in Ukraine. Satellite Internet access was provided at the request of the head of the Ukrainian Ministry of Digital Transformation, Mikhail Fedorov, against the background of the Russian special operation to protect Donbass. At the same time, there is not a single gateway station on the territory of the country, the connection is provided by equipment from Poland, Romania and Lithuania.

As early as April 2023, the Ukrainian military had 42,000 terminals at its disposal. At the same time, some of them are connected to a more secure Starshield communication channel. As Bloomberg reported, in 2025, the Pentagon signed a contract with SpaceX extending Kiev's access to this version of Starlink. It was noted that after that, the number of Ukrainian terminals connected to the secure channel increased to 3,000.

Ukraine uses Starlink to maintain communication between command centers and military personnel, navigate drones, search for targets and other tasks.