17 Jan 2019

Iridium completes NEXT satellite constellation launches, boosts aircraft tracking

The final 10 Iridium NEXT satellites were delivered to low earth orbit (LEO) on 11 January. The satellite constellation will be used to provide a number of services including Iridium Certus, which will deliver global L-band broadband connectivity and Aireon’s ADS-B based real-time aircraft tracking system.

The 10 satellites were delivered into LEO using a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and all of them have successfully communicated with the Iridium Satellite Network Operations Center. This was the eighth and final launch of Iridium’s launch campaign (which has required an investment of approximately $3 billion) with SpaceX, which has deployed 75 new satellites in less than two years.

Iridium claims that its satellite constellation is the communications network with pole-to-pole coverage of the entire planet. It is comprised of six polar orbiting planes, each containing 11 cross-linked satellites totalling 66 in the operational constellation.

“There are few words to describe what it feels like to complete a vision started many years ago when I joined the company and what it means for Iridium and our future,” said Iridium CEO Matt Desch. “Our gratitude to SpaceX for helping bring this new generation of satellites to orbit, so flawlessly every time is beyond words. However, for Iridium, we’re not quite across the finish line yet, as there is still some work to do to put these satellites into operation. Once that’s complete, our future will be in place. I’m just incredibly proud of our team right now.”