AUTHENTIC Iridium NEXT Launch-5 - SPACEX FALCON 9 USAF VAFB COMM SATELLITE PATCH
There were 10 Iridium NEXT SATELLITES Launched on this SPACEX Mission
This is the 5th of 8 SPACEX FALCON 9 Launches that will send a total of 70 NEW Iridium NEXT satellites into space
THIS IS THE Iridium NEXT Company Launch patch
This flight is the
fifth of
eight
that will be conducted over the next year or so to send some 70 Iridium NEXT satellites into orbit to replace Iridium Communication’s aging constellation.
The process of replacing these satellites on-by-one in a constellation of this size – the world’s largest – has never been done before.
“It’s kind of a delicate choreography that we’re doing where each 10 that we launch will go into a parking orbit right below the existing operational satellite where it’s tested for a series of time over weeks,” Diane Hockenberry, director of corporate communications and public relations at Iridium Communications, told SpaceFlight Insider.
The original Iridium constellation was launched during the 1990s and early 2000s. It provides voice and data coverage for some 800,000 subscribers through 66 active satellites.
Hockenberry said once testing is completed and the new satellites are validated, they’ll be moved into a higher orbit beside the older satellites. They will then cross-link and sync together so they can read each other and connect the customer’s information that is going through.
“It’s very delicate when you are moving at 17,000 miles per hour and you don’t want to drop a call,” Hockenberry said. “So, it’ll be seamless to our users and our customers, but there’s a lot that has to go on to be sure that we can do that 66 times, and eventually even more than that, over the coming year.
Hockenberry said the older satellites are going on 19-and-a-half years, are at the end of their life, and will all eventually be de-orbited.
The new satellites are smaller and more capable. Each is 1,874 pounds (850 kilograms). In a $2.1 billion deal, Thales Alenia Space was
contracted
to build the satellites. A total of 81 were manufactured and 70 will be launched by SpaceX.
Iridium will begin checking out the 10 new additions to its fleet and will move them into production at some future time.
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