A spokesperson for SpaceX has said the company intends not to land the Falcon 9 rocket’s first stage as part of a mission to launch Iridium Communications’ fourth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites into space, SpaceNews reported Wednesday. Iridium’s satellites are scheduled Friday to take off aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Air Force […] More

SpaceX has begun processing the fourth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites at its west coast launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California in preparation for the Dec. 22 launch aboard a pre-flown Falcon 9 rocket as part of its launch campaign with Iridium Communications. Iridium said Tuesday the company and SpaceX are set […] More

Iridium Communications CEO Matt Desch has been appointed to the Northern Virginia Technology Council’s board of directors. Desch brings to the council more than 35 years of experience in the telecommunications and global wireless industries, NVTC said Tuesday. Desch, an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2017, is a member of President Donald Trump’s National Security Telecommunications […] More

Iridium CEO Matt Desch has said SpaceX agreed to lower the price of future Iridium NEXT satellite launches the latter company will conduct using previously-flown rocket stages, Space Intel Report reported Thursday. Desch added that Iridium accepted the use of previously-flown stages primarily due to schedule assurance and that the deal also offers a “financially positive impact,” according to […] More

Iridium Communications continues to provide satellite communications services in the Caribbean and Puerto Rico to aid hurricane recovery efforts, NASASpaceflight.com reported Saturday. Iridium CEO Matt Desch, an inductee into Executive Mosaic‘s Wash100 for 2017, told the publication that Iridium saw an increase in satcom demand in the Carribean and Puerto Rico “on a scale that we have […] More

Iridium Communications plans to launch on Dec. 22 the fourth batch of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites aboard a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The planned launch would bring the total number of Iridium NEXT satellites in space to 40 as part of a potential $3 billion program to replace an existing constellation of communications satellites, […] More

Iridium Communications has initiated on-orbit tests of the company’s broadband service platform built to deliver global L-band connectivity through the NEXT satellite constellation. The company said Thursday it uploaded software to the NEXT satellites that are already in orbit to activate the Iridium Certus communications service. Certus entered live testing Sept. 25 and is slated for commercial […] More

Iridium Communications CEO Matt Desch has said the company’s network of low-Earth orbit satellites works to accommodate satellite phone communications amid the high demand for satcom services in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico, USA Today reported Friday. Desch said usage of satellite phones that usually lasts for three to five days following a disaster has […] More

SpaceX has pushed back the launch of a third batch of satellites for Iridium Communications‘ NEXT constellation by five days to Oct. 9, Iridium announced Tuesday on its website. Iridium CEO Matt Desch said the schedule change was requested by SpaceX to provide more time to prepare the Falcon 9 rocket that will carry the 10 […] More

Iridium Comxmunications has rescheduled to Oct. 4 the launch of a third batch of 10 NEXT communications satellites from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, aboard a SpaceX-built Falcon 9 rocket. The company said Wednesday it began pre-launch processing activities on the satellites and the Falcon 9 rocket stages and components. The third Irdium NEXT launch was originally slated […] More

Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium Communications, has cited internet of things as a growing business area for the Virginia-based satellite company during a panel discussion at the Summit for Satellite Financing that, Via Satellite reported Monday. He told audience at the Euroconsult-hosted forum that Iridium is focused on business cases instead of satellite frequency bands and that […] More

Iridium Communications has partnered with Dutch satellite company Magnitude Space to facilitate the delivery of space-based internet of things service offerings through the development of low power global area network technology platforms. Iridium said Thursday it will work to investigate and develop low power, high latency IoT service alternatives under a memorandum of understanding with […] More