Iridium Completes Seventh Successful Iridium® NEXT
Launch
July 25, 2018
Iridium Communications Inc. announced that at
04:39:30 am PDT
(11:39:30
UTC)
a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket successfully launched 10
Iridium NEXT satellites to low earth orbit (LEO).
Lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in
California,
this was the seventh of eight launches planned for
the Iridium NEXT constellation, replacing the
company's existing 66 satellite network. Only one
more launch of 10 satellites remains until the
Iridium NEXT network is completed, ushering in a new
era of capabilities, like the Iridium CertusSM
broadband service and AireonSM
real-time aircraft surveillance system.
Completion of Iridium
NEXT will spark both a technological and financial
transformation for the company, while providing its
partner ecosystem with an unrivaled industry
platform for innovation. The Iridium partner
ecosystem, consisting of hundreds of companies,
plays an invaluable role in the creation,
distribution and servicing of Iridium equipment,
airtime and applications. Among the new services,
Iridium Certus will provide the fastest L-band
broadband service globally, turbocharging Iridium
satellite connectivity using smaller and more
cost-effective terminals. Five industry-leading
companies have been selected by Iridium as Value
Added Manufacturers for Iridium Certus, including
Thales,
Cobham, Rockwell Collins, L3 Communications
and most recently, Gogo. This group of companies
has been joined by more than twenty Iridium Certus
service providers who will be providing the service
for maritime, aviation, Internet of Things,
land-mobile and government-related industries.
"This historic constellation refresh is one launch
away from completion," said
Matt Desch, chief executive officer at
Iridium. "We know our partners are just as excited
about the new network being finished as we are, and
how that will bring the full power of the Iridium
NEXT constellation to life. We've come a long way,
and we are particularly excited to see the financial
transformation enabled by the completion of the
Iridium NEXT system and the associated drop in
capital expenditures."
The 10 Iridium NEXT satellites launched as part of
the seventh mission were delivered to orbital plane
number five, where they will go in to operation
immediately following testing and validation.
The Iridium network is comprised of six polar
orbiting planes, each containing 11 crosslinked
satellites for a total of 66 in the operational
constellation. Upon activation of all 10 new
satellites, orbital plane five will become the
fourth Iridium orbital plane to be comprised
exclusively of Iridium NEXT satellites. In
total, 81 satellites are being built with 75 planned
for launch. Nine of the satellites launched will
serve as on-orbit spares, and the remaining six will
be ground spares.