Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium Communications, has said the company is likely to launch on March 29 the fifth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites aboard a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket, SpaceNews reported Monday. Desch, a 2018 Wash100 recipient, added the company expects subsequent launches to occur every five to six weeks to complete the Iridium NEXT satellite constellation. The sixth […] More

Iridium Communications’ fourth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites took off Friday at 5:27 p.m. Pacific time from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard SpaceX‘s Falcon 9 rocket. The launch marks the first use of the rocket’s previously-flown first stage that SpaceX fielded in June to bring the second set of Iridium NEXT satellites into orbit and serves […] More

SpaceX has begun processing the fourth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites at its west coast launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in preparation for the Dec. 22 launch aboard a pre-flown Falcon 9 rocket as part of its launch campaign with Iridium Communications. Iridium said Tuesday the company and SpaceX are set […] More

Iridium Communications launched its third batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites into space aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket that took off Monday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The launch brings to 30 the total number of Iridium NEXT satellites in space and represents the third of eight launches that SpaceX needs to perform to deliver a total […] More

Iridium Communications plans to launch the third batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites on Sept. 30 aboard a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The scheduled launch would bring the total number of Iridium NEXT satellites in space to 30 as part of a potential $3 billion program to replace an existing constellation with 75 new communications satellites […] More

Iridium Communications’ second batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites lifted off Sunday aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to join the initial batch of satellites that took off in January. The launch brings the total number of Iridium NEXT satellites in space to 20 and marks the second of […] More

Iridium Communications‘ long-awaited next-generation satellite constellation will start to take form Sunday night when a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. An initial 10 NEXT satellites will enter space then to kick off a seven-launch campaign to deploy 10 space vehicles at a time in a process to replace each […] More

Iridium Communications will launch the first line of its NEXT satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base on September 12. The company said Tuesday Thales Alenia Space and Orbital ATK have completed assembly, integration and testing of the 81 satellites on the assembly line, which includes 66 operational satellites to replace the current Iridium network. “After more than seven […] More

Iridium Communications, CEO Matt Desch has called on the Federal Aviation Administration to transition to a new aircraft surveillance system by the end of this calendar year in an interview with Reuters posted Tuesday. Desch told Reuters’ Andrea Shalal at the Satellite 2016 conference the agency needs to make a decision ahead of the scheduled 2018 date for […] More

Iridium Communications has spent $3 billion on its program to launch 66 satellites that will work to offer airline companies satellite-based air traffic surveillance services, CEO Matt Desch told The Globe and Mail for an article published Sunday. Eric Atkins writes those satellites will carry instruments to collect information such as aircraft speed and location in an effort to help airlines manage fuel usage and flight […] More

Iridium Communications has integrated an Aireon-built air traffic surveillance payload system into a NEXT satellite that is scheduled to go into space between 2015 and 2017. Aireon will utilize the hosted Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast receiver payload to help the aviation industry access information about aircraft position and status, Iridium said Monday. The payload integration effort […] More

Iridium Communications has completed the integration of communication and surveillance payloads with the Iridium NEXT satellite. The company said Monday it will send the satellite with the integrated Aireon-hosted tracking payload for aircraft surveillance to Thales Alenia Space in Cannes, France for final qualification testing. The integrated module is part of the 66 low-Earth orbit satellites that will […] More