Matthew Nelson
Iridium Communications has announced that the launch of the eighth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites aboard SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 rocket is now scheduled on Jan. 7, SpaceNews reported Friday.
The new schedule sought to provide SpaceX more time to accommodate Spaceflight Industries“™ SmallSat Express rideshare mission, which took off on Monday, Dec. 3.
Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a tweet that four of the 10 satellites are ready while the next two are in transit.
The satellite constellation developed by Northrop Grumman and Thales Alenia Space aims to provide L-band voice and data services and carry payloads to support vessel-tracking service of Harris and exactEarth as well as Aireon‘s flight-tracking service.
Iridium originally announced Dec. 30 as the target launch date for the final set of NEXT satellites.
