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Iridium's 'truly global' satellite internet connects aircraft and ships
Wondering what Iridium would be doing with those Next satellites that SpaceX just finished launching? You now have an idea. Iridium has formally debuted Certus, a "truly global" satellite broadband service that promises to keep aircraft, ships and other vehicles (including self-driving vehicles) connected even in the remotest places. It's far from fast at 352Kbps for both downloads and uploads, but that's enough to keep crews online and provide reasonably high-quality voice services.
SpaceX cut its latest Falcon 9 stream because it didn't get a license
SpaceX had to cut off the Iridium Next mission's live feed early, and it might be because its Tesla launch got a bit too much attention. The private space giant raised questions (and may have given conspiracy theories plenty to chat about) when it suddenly stopped Falcon 9's live feed a few minutes into its journey. Its engineers said it was because SpaceX doesn't have permission from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to broadcast images captured by the cameras on the rocket's second stage.
SpaceX's comeback launch was a success
2016 was a fairly good year for SpaceX, with Elon Musk's spaceflight company inching closer to developing a reusable rocket for missions. At least up until September, when a Falcon 9 rocket exploded during a pre-launch test on the pad at Cape Canaveral. The company quickly investigated and found that the craft's liquid oxygen had leaked out of a tank, with the resulting friction causing ignition. At last, however, SpaceX is ready to turn a corner: the private outfit has returned to flight by launching a Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, delivering 10 Iridium Next satellites into orbit.
SpaceX delays its comeback launch to January 14th
SpaceX's much-vaunted return to flight just hit a snag. Iridium has revealed that the Falcon 9 rocket launch has been pushed pack several days to January 14th, at 12:54PM Eastern. Why the long postponement when most delays tend to be a day or two at most? Simply put, the weather at Vandenberg Air Force Base will just be that terrible -- there are "high winds and rain" in the forecast for the next several days.
SpaceX will resume rocket launches on January 8th
After months of uncertainty and delays, SpaceX can finally say when it expects to resume rocket launches following its September launchpad explosion. The private spaceflight outfit is now aiming for a return to flight on January 8th, when a Falcon 9 will carry an Iridium Next satellite into space from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. And crucially, SpaceX has narrowed down accident's likely cause to the point where it has solutions that should prevent a repeat accident.
Iridium to merge with GHL, get back into sat phone game
Aside from pushing out around one phone per year (at best), Iridium Satellite really hasn't had a major impact on the market over the past ten years. 'Course, that's probably because it's hard to have much impact after seeking bankruptcy protection in 1999, but we digress. Starting tomorrow, new life will be breathed into Iridium thanks to a merger with publicly traded GHL Acquisition. If all goes to plan, the merger will add over $200 million to the company's bank account, enabling it to pay down debt and develop a next-generation network of satellites to be launched in 2014. Furthermore, $160 million will be raised by issuing another 16 million shares at $10 a pop, and a new label (Iridium Communications) will be thrown on for good measure. Only time will tell if the world really is ready to adopt satellite phones en masse, but if TerraStar's latest deal is any indication, we'd say chances are good halfway decent.
Iridium Next: plans for next-gen satellite network
Although nothing is set in stone, everyone's favorite why-aren't-they-dead-yet satellite communications firm, Iridium, is starting to sketch out its next gen satellite network, titled, obviously enough. Iridium Next. Looking to go far beyond mere satphone calling and the like, Next might well include environmental monitoring, sat-photography, GPS, and a 10Mbps "broadband" mesh network. It'll cost Iridium about $2b when they light it up on or before 2016, but don't worry, you're sure to continue paying a buck or two a minute for taking advantage of that network, too.
