SpaceX is on fire. The company is getting another big customer on board. The latest organization to join the company’s fast-growing space business is the American mobile satellite operator Iridium Communications.
According to Satellite Today, Iridium has just announced this week that SpaceX will conduct the third launch in its fleet replenishment from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
This upcoming launch will deliver another 10 Iridium Next satellites on SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, bringing the total number of Iridium satellites on orbit to 30. The target launch date will be on September 30 at 6:30 am Pacific time.
Iridium, the latest company to join SpaceX
Founded in 2001 and based in McLean, Virginia, Iridium is a publicly traded mobile satellite company. Currently, the company is working on the massive Iridium Next constellation, a system of active satellites that been used for worldwide communications. This satellite service has been designed to cover the whole Earth, including the oceans, airways and even poles.
The company operates and maintains operation centers in Leesburg, Virgina, and Tempe in Arizona. Iridium’s customers include aviation, government agencies, the oil industry, researchers, frequent travelers and maritime industry.
The company’s satellite service has become an essential component of communications with far-flung remote areas, especially the Amundsen-Scott South Pole station in Antartica. The company has deployed an array of twelve Iridium modems to provide continuous communications to the South Pole station.
Iridium’s latest satellite project is a $3 billion next-generation mobile, global satellite network called Iridium Next. This new satellite network is scheduled for completion in 2018.
But unlike its previous satellite launches where some satellites were sent drifting in space with some different from where they were launched, all ten satellites for this upcoming launch are currently being planned to provide service in the orbital plane. The company has designed its Iridium satellite constellation with six polar orbiting planes with 11 satellites each circling planes.
Originally, the company plans to have 66 active satellites on Earth’s orbit to complete its Iridium Next satellite constellation. Most of these satellites were launched in the late 1990s, just before Iridium filed for bankruptcy. Since its demise, until January 2017, only seven additional satellites were added to the constellation.
These satellites were launched on SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
SpaceX has already launched the first 10 Iridium Next satellites last January 14, 2017. This was followed by the second launch on June 25, 2017, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Iridium plans to complete its entire Iridium Next satellite by next year.
The planned Iridium satellite launch
SpaceX hopes that the next target launch schedule will finally complete the planned Iridium Next constellation. Overall, the aerospace company will be delivering a total of 75 Iridium Next satellites into Earth’s orbit. In the event of inclement weather or technical problem, SpaceX and Iridium also have a backup launch date.
For backup launch date, the two have set the date October 1.
Finally, the fourth Iridium Next launch will be scheduled this coming November. All Iridium Next satellites are planned booked to launch on newly developed SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.