The heaviest payload in SpaceX history is set to blast off from Vandenberg Air Force Base laden with low-orbit communication satellites on Dec. 22.
Iridium CEO Matt Desch told the Sun in an email that the company is investing $3 billion to replace an older satellite network that dates back two decades. He said the operation was the largest satellite program underway currently worldwide.
“Replacing a network of this size and scale has never been done before,” he added. “To put this into perspective, each Iridium NEXT satellite weighs approximately 1 ton, or about the weight and approximate size of a Mini Cooper.”
December’s launch will mark the fourth time Iridium has worked with SpaceX this year. It is the first time a reused booster will be launched from Vandenberg and the fifth time a SpaceX reused booster has flown. The 10 satellites onboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will bring the total Iridium satellite count up to 40.
Iridium officials said Vandenberg was an “ideal launch point” for their polar orbiting satellites.
Desch said there were plans in place for four additional launches with SpaceX in the first half of 2018. Once completed mid-year, the Iridium network will consist of 66 NEXT communication satellites in mission orbit, and nine in-orbit spares to act as backups. Iridium will also have an additional six NEXT satellites in storage on the ground for future launches.
Iridium products and services are used in a variety of industries today, including aviation, land-mobile, maritime, and the U.S. government, Desch explained. He said the replaced satellite network would eventually allow for “100 percent global, real-time” ship and aircraft tracking.
“[Iridium is] relied upon by nearly a million customers worldwide to provide critical communications that include safety of life/search and rescue; disaster response; airplane, ship, and container tracking; and even information about how engines are performing on heavy machinery,” Desch said, citing this past year’s hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico as examples of the network’s importance. “Terrestrial infrastructure was, for the most part, wiped out, making satellite connectivity a vital resource for anyone affected��”especially for emergency response efforts. To put this into perspective, at one point during the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Maria, Iridium’s network saw an increase in usage of 3,900 percent in Puerto Rico alone.”
Desch said Iridium would undergo “a financial transformation” following the final launches next year “as we stop spending hundreds of millions on satellites and launches, and start generating significant positive cash flows.”
The future, he added, is an exciting prospect.
This article appears in Dec 21-28, 2017.