The original Iridium first-generation constellation launched in the late 1990s and had finished launching by 2006.
Iridium has a five-year, $400,000,000 contract with the U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency that expires in October.
Iridium spent $132,000,000 in capital expenditures in the past three months, most of it on Iridium Next.
Iridium projects $100,000,000 in annual revenue from Certus products by the end of 2021.
Iridium and the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) booked a single Falcon 9 for the 2018-05-22 launch and split the cost between them.
Iridium spent around $3,000,000,000 on the Iridium Next program to purchase satellites from Thales Alenia Space in Europe.
Rupert Pearce, CEO of Inmarsat, opposed Iridium’s GMDSS effort in 2014 on grounds that Iridium-supported GMDSS services would put lives at risk.
Iridium completed a multiyear replacement of its first-generation constellation and expects all 66 operational Iridium Next satellites to be in service by the end of 2020.
Iridium expects to begin providing GMDSS service in 2020.
Aireon has 50 hosted payloads in orbit and five more payloads launching on Iridium’s next mission scheduled for 2018-05-22 on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
Aireon owes Iridium $200,000,000 in hosting fees.
The 2018-05-21 Iridium launch was delayed by two days due to minor processing issues and preparation of a rocket component.
On the 2018-05-21 launch, the Falcon 9 upper stage will deploy the two GRACE-FO satellites into one orbit and then relight to maneuver to a different orbit for Iridium satellite deployment.
Iridium received a modest discount from SpaceX for using reused boosters but prioritized schedule certainty to maintain an 18-month to 24-month launch schedule.
Iridium expects the remaining three launches of Iridium Next satellites to be completed by the third quarter of 2018 with the satellites moved into their final positions shortly thereafter.
Iridium is seeking certification from the International Maritime Organization to provide Global Maritime Distress and Safety System services from its satellites.
Iridium has launched 50 Iridium Next satellites on five SpaceX Falcon 9 launches dating back to January 2017.
Iridium changed its operations after the 2009 collision of the Iridium 33 satellite with the defunct Russian satellite Cosmos 2251 to work more closely with the U.S. Air Force for updated collision-risk information.
The next Iridium satellite launch is scheduled for 2018-05-21 from Vandenberg Air Force Base on a SpaceX Falcon 9.
Iridium expects to win GMDSS approval and start offering the service by early 2020.