SpaceX Starlink has been on a satellite launch spree lately. Last week, the Elon Musk-owned company successfully sent 24 Starlink satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Vandenbueg Space Force base, and now it is planning to add 28 more satellites to its constellation.

A rare global interruption in the Starlink satellite Internet network knocked subscribers offline for more than two hours on Thursday, the longest widespread outage since SpaceX opened the service to consumers nearly five years ago.

The issue concerns sunlight reflecting off the satellites’ surfaces. SpaceX has attempted to reduce the brightness of the reflected light by coating the satellites in a dark material, and also by adding reflective film to redirect the sunlight away from Earth.

Starlink is a satellite internet constellation that works as an international telecommunication provider, part of the American aerospace company SpaceX, founded by controversial billionaire Musk. The network provides coverage to around 130 countries and territories, aiming to provide global mobile broadband.

China’s biggest networks have deployed less than 1 percent of their planned satellites, falling far behind SpaceX for dominance in space communications.

SpaceX added 24 new Starlink satellites to its orbital network on a Friday night (July 18) launch from California.

Letting AST launch its proposed spacecraft without addressing the collision risk 'would be irresponsible' and potentially subject other satellite providers to 'unnecessary risk,' SpaceX says.

The new US missile defense system will explore alternatives to Elon Musk's SpaceX, with Amazon. com's Project Kuiper among the main contenders.