Ten new satellites for Iridium Communications Inc. have been carried into orbit by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from California.
The booster lifted off from coastal Vandenberg Air Force Base before dawn Monday. Its first stage successfully returned from space and set down on a landing platform floating in the Pacific Ocean as the second stage went on to deploy the satellites in orbit.
- VIDEO: Watch the launch at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or6gYRZmkt8. (Launch occurs at 6 minute mark in video)
“While already able to deliver fully global communications coverage, the Iridium constellation is undergoing a technological transformation,” says Iridium, which is based in McLean, Va.
” At the center of this transformation are three new capabilities; Iridium Certus, the company’s new L-band broadband service; Aireon’s space-based automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) hosted-payload, that will provide real-time tracking and surveillance of all ADS-B equipped aircraft globally; and Harris Corporation and exact Earth’s ship tracking service.”
It was the third successful launch in the McLean, Virginia-based company’s campaign to replace its entire globe-circling fleet with a total of 75 next-generation communications satellites. Five more SpaceX launches are expected to complete the process by mid-2018.
The satellites also carry payloads for global real-time aircraft tracking and a ship-tracking service.
The old Iridium satellites are being deorbited.
“Each successful launch brings us one step closer to both a technological and financial transformation,” said Iridium CEO Matt Desch. “One of our core strategies is to offer new services that are either flat out impossible or not easily replicated by more traditional “bent pipe” and geostationary systems. Satellite Time & Location, Short Burst Data® and Iridium PTT are just a few examples of global services only possible on our network. For us and our partners, Iridium NEXT is an engine for innovation, and services like these are just the start. Moreover, we’re on track to completion in 2018.”
Iridium notes that the NEXT system and satellites have been designed and managed by Thales Alenia Space, serving as prime contractor for the program.
