 | |
| Company type | Public |
|---|---|
| Industry | Satellite telecommunications |
| Founded | 2001; 24 years ago (2001) |
| Headquarters | , U.S. |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | |
| Products | Satellite communications equipment |
| Services | Satellite voice and data services |
| Revenue |  US$830.7 million (2024)[1] |
| US$200.3 million (2024)[1] | |
| US$112.8 million (2024)[1] | |
| Total assets | US$2.671 billion (2024)[1] |
| Total equity | US$576.6 million (2024)[1] |
Number of employees | 873+ (2024)[1] |
| Website | iridium |
Iridium Communications Inc. (formerlyIridium Satellite LLC) is a publicly tradedAmerican company headquartered inMcLean, Virginia, United States. Iridium operates theIridium satellite constellation, a system of 80 satellites: 66 are active satellites and the remaining fourteen function as in-orbit spares.[2] Iridium Satellites are used for worldwide voice and data communication from handheldsatellite phones, satellite messenger communication devices and integrated transceivers, as well as for two-way satellite messaging service from supported conventionalmobile phones.[3][4][5] The nearlypolar orbit and communication between satellites viainter-satellite links provide global service availability.
The Iridium communications service was launched on November 1, 1998, formerly known as Iridium SSC. The first Iridium call was made fromVice President of the United StatesAl Gore toGilbert Grosvenor, the great-grandson ofAlexander Graham Bell and chairman of theNational Geographic Society.[6]Motorola provided the technology and major financial backing.[7] The logo of the company represents theBig Dipper.[8] The company derives its name from thechemical elementiridium, which has anatomic number of 77, equaling the initial number of satellites which were calculated to be required for global coverage.[9] However, due to optimizations of orbit trajectories, technology updates and real-world conditions, only 66 are required for global coverage. A total of 95 satellites were launched in this constellation, with 66 active and the remaining 29 satellites operating as spares.[10]
On August 13, 1999, nine months after the launch of the organization, the founding company went intoChapter 11 bankruptcy.[11] The handsets could not operate as promoted until the entire constellation of satellites was in place, requiring a massive initialcapital cost of billions of dollars.[12] The cost of service dissuaded many potential users. Reception indoors was difficult and the handheld devices, when compared to terrestrial cellularmobile phones were bulkier and more expensive, both of which discouraged adoption among potential users.[11]
Mismanagement is another major factor that was cited in the original program's failure. In 1999,CNN writerDavid Rohde detailed how he applied for Iridium service and was sent information kits, but was never contacted by a sales representative. He encountered programming problems on Iridium's website, and a "run-around" from the company's representatives.[13] After Iridium filed bankruptcy, it cited "difficulty gaining subscribers."[14]
The initial commercial failure of Iridium had a damping effect on other proposed commercial satellite constellation projects, includingTeledesic. Other schemes (Orbcomm,ICO Global Communications, andGlobalstar) followed Iridium into bankruptcy protection, while a number of other proposed schemes were never even constructed.[11]
In August 2000,Motorola announced that the Iridium satellites would have to be deorbited.[15] Despite this, they remained in orbit and operational.[16][17] In December 2000, the US government stepped in to save Iridium by providing US$72 million in exchange for a two-year contract. They also approved thefire sale of the company fromUS bankruptcy court for $25 million[15] in March 2001. This erased over $4 billion in debt.[18]
Iridium service was restarted in 2001, by the newly founded Iridium Satellite LLC, which was owned by a group of private investors.[12]
On February 10, 2009, theIridium 33 satellitecollided with a defunct Russian satellite, namedKosmos 2251, 800 kilometres (500 mi) overSiberia.[19] Two large debris clouds were created.[20]
Iridium replaced its original constellation by sending 75 new Iridium satellites into space onSpaceX Falcon 9 rockets in a series of 8 launches. The campaign also consisted of upgrades to Iridium ground infrastructure.[21]
TheIridium NEXT launch campaign was announced in 2007. Within three years, Iridium completed financing and began work on launching new satellites.[22] In June 2010, Iridium announced a fixed-price contract withThales Alenia Space for the design and construction of the next-generation satellites for the upgraded constellation.[23] Two weeks later, Iridium announced a $492 million contract designating theFalcon 9 as a major provider of launch services for the Iridium NEXT campaign, becoming the largest single commercial launch deal ever signed (simultaneously representing a benchmark in cost-effective satellite delivery to space).[24] The total expenditures of approximately $2.9 billion were partially financed with debt: between 2010 and 2017, the debt of Iridium Communications Inc. grew from $37.4 millions to $1,455.6 millions.[25][26]
On January 14, 2017, 10 years after the campaign was first announced, the first of eight Iridium NEXT launches took place withSpaceX fromVandenberg Air Force Base in California.[27] Over the next two years, Iridium sent an additional 65 satellites into low Earth orbit to completely replace the original satellite constellation. The final Iridium NEXT launch took place on January 11, 2019, less than two years after the first launch.[28]
The Iridium NEXT network covers the entireEarth, including poles, oceans and airways, with 66 satellites, with the remaining nine acting as active backups, for a total of 75 launched.[3] Six remain on the ground as spares for a total of 81 built.[29][30] Of the six spare satellites five have been launched on 20 May 2023 while the last one, Iridium 101, is still on the ground.[31]
Iridium Satellite LLC merged with aspecial-purpose acquisition company (GHQ) created by the investment bankGreenhill & Co. in September 2009 to create Iridium Communications Inc. The public company trades onNASDAQ under the symbol "IRDM". The company surpassed one million subscribers in March 2018.[32] Revenue for the full year 2018 was $523.0 million with operationalEBITDA of $302.0 million, a 14% increase from $265.6 million in the prior year.[33]
Iridium manages several operations centers, includingTempe, Arizona andLeesburg, Virginia, United States.[34][35]
The system is being used by theU.S. Department of Defense.[36][better source needed]
Matt Desch is the current CEO of Iridium LLC.[37]
Iridium is a founding member of theHosted Payload Alliance (HPA), a satellite industry alliance program. Membership in the HPA is open to satellite operators, satellite manufacturers, system integrators, and other interested parties.[38]
In July 2011, theFederal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued a ruling that approves the use of Iridium forFuture Air Navigation System (FANS) data links, enabling satellite data links with air-traffic control for aircraft flying in the FANS environment, including areas not served byInmarsat (above or below 70 degrees latitude) which includes polar routes.[39]
In January 2020, theIridium constellation was certified for use in theGlobal Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS). The certification ended amonopoly on the provision of maritime distress services that had previously been held byInmarsat since the system became operational in 1999.[40]
In 2023,Qualcomm and Iridium announced an agreement that was supposed to bring two-way satellite messaging service toAndroid smartphones. The service, called Snapdragon Satellite, should have been supported starting with devices that featureSnapdragon 8 Gen 2 chipsets, which was expected to be launched in the second half of 2023. The solution for smartphones was supposed to utilize Iridium'sL Band spectrum for downlink and uplink.[41][42]
On November 9, 2023, Iridium announced that Qualcomm had notified them about the end of their partnership due to a lack of interest in Qualcomm's and Iridium's proprietary solution by smartphone manufacturers. A Qualcomm spokesman stated "Smartphone makers have indicated a preference towards standards-based solutions for satellite-to-phone connectivity. We expect to continue to collaborate with Iridium on standards-based solutions while discontinuing efforts on the proprietary solution that was introduced earlier this year."[43][44][45]
In 2024, Iridium introduced Project Stardust, a3GPP standard-based satellite-to-cellphone service focusing on messaging, emergency communications and IoT for devices like cars, smartphones, tablets and related consumer applications. The solution will be supported using a version of the NB-IoT standard for5G non-terrestrial networks (NTN). Scheduled for launch in 2026, it won't replace the company’s proprietary solution for voice and high-speed data; instead it will co-exist with that offering on the Iridium's existing global low-earth orbit satellite network.[46][47]
From 2015–2022, Iridium Satellite was selling navigation systems directly to its Russian subsidiary, Iridium Communications. In 2022, the Moscow-based subsidiary gave theNational Guard of Russia access to the satellite constellation.
Following the2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Iridium structured their operations to comply with US sanctions and stopped shipment of end-user equipment to Russia. Despite this, In 2023, Iridium Communications, via some unknown intermediaries, imported machines made by the American parent company for receiving and converting voice and images.[48]
The Iridium system requires 66 active satellites inlow Earth orbit to complete its constellation and 9 spare satellites are kept in-orbit to serve in case of failure.[49] The satellites are in sixpolar orbital planes at a height of approximately 485 miles (780 km).[50] Satellites communicate with neighboring satellites viaKa bandintersatellite links to relay communications to and fromground stations.[51] The original constellation was launched in the late 1990s before the company went through bankruptcy. In January 2017, Iridium began to launch its next-generation satellites through its $3 billion launch campaign,Iridium NEXT. The new satellites were sent into space on SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicles fromVandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 4 in California over the course of eight launches between January 2017 and January 2019.[52][53] On January 14, 2017, SpaceX launched 10 of the new Iridium satellites into orbit.[54] The second launch ofIridium NEXT satellites took place on June 25, 2017 on aSpaceXFalcon 9 rocket out ofVandenberg Space Force Base. This was the second of eight scheduled launches.[55] The third launch of 10 NEXT satellites took place on October 9, 2017. On December 22, 2017, ten additional satellites were deployed after a successful launch on a SpaceXFalcon 9 rocket. On May 22, SpaceX successfully launched an additional fiveIridium NEXT satellites fromVandenberg Space Force Base.[56]
On January 11, 2019, the final ten satellites were placed in orbit bySpaceX.[57]
Iridium offers four satellite handsets: the 9555, 9575A (which is only available to US government customers), the Extreme, and the Extreme PTT.[58]
In 2014, Iridium began to offer the Iridium Go!hotspot, which can also be used as a distress beacon under certain circumstances.[59] As of September 2020, Iridium's manufacturing contractor, Beam Communications, had built 50,000 of these devices.[60]
Twopagers were made for the Iridium network – theMotorola 9501 andKyocera SP-66K.[61] These are one-way devices that could receive messages sent in the form ofSMS.
Messages are delivered to pre-selected "MDAs" which cover a certain geographic area. Three of these MDAs may be selected on a web-based portal or updated automatically if the paging service is bound to an Iridium phone. Each country has its own MDA based on itscountry code; some of the larger countries are divided into several MDAs, while separate MDAs exist for sections of ocean and common aeronautic routes.
Pagers are assigned with telephone numbers inarea code 480 and can also be contacted using email, SMS and the web-based interface used to send messages to Iridium phones.[62]
In 2017,Garmin announcedinReach SE+ and inReach Explorer+ satellite communicators, which use Iridium satellite network for global coverage.[63] The Garmin inReach Mini, a satellite messenger, was announced a year later.[64] These devices can send and receive text messages with any cell phone number, email address or another inReach device, as well as to provide location sharing, navigation and direct communication options to emergency services.
ZOLEO satellite communicator uses global Iridium network when cellular or Wi-Fi coverage is unavailable. It does so by means of Bluetooth connection to provide two-way messaging to connected smartphone or tablet devices.[65]
Several other Iridium-based telephones exist, such aspayphones,[66] and equipment intended for installation on ships and aircraft. The DPL handset made by NAL Research combined with a 9522 transceiver is used for some of these products. This handset provides auser interface nearly identical to that of the 9505 series phones.[67]
These can be used for data-logging applications in remote areas (as indata collection satellites). Some types ofbuoys, such as those used for thetsunami warning system, use Iridium satellites to communicate with their base. The remote device is programmed to call or send shortburst data (SBD) messages to the base at specified intervals, or it can be set to accept calls in order for it to offload its collected data.
The following transceivers have been released over the years:
These devices support only SBD forInternet of things (IoT) services and do not use aSIM card.
Iridium OpenPort is a broadband satellite voice and data communications system for maritime vessels. The system is used for crew calling and e-mail services on sea vessels such as merchant fleets, government and navy vessels, fishing fleets and personal yachts.[72]
Iridium operates at only 2.2 to 3.8 kbit/s, which requires very aggressive voicecompression[73] and decompressionalgorithms.[74] (By comparison,AMR used in 3G phones requires a minimum of 4.75 kbit/s,G.729 requires 6.4 kbit/s, andiLBC requires 13.33 kbit/s.) Latency for data connections averages 1800 ms round-trip, with a mode of 1300 to 1400 ms and a minimum around 980 ms.[75] Latency is highly variable depending on the path data takes through the satellite constellation as well the need for retransmissions due to errors, which may be around 2 to 3% for mobile originated packets under good conditions.
One of the Iridium NEXT services is Iridium Certus, a globally available satellite broadband which is capable of up to 704 Kbps of bandwidth across maritime, aviation, land mobile, government, andIoT applications. Terminals for the service are provided byCobham, Intellian Technologies andThales.[76][77][78]
Iridium is providing Satellite Time & Location (STL) service.[79] It was developed bySatelles company, which was later acquired by Iridium Communications in April 2024.[80]
According to the company, it is the onlyLEO satellite based commercialpositioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) service (as of April 2024).[79]
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