September 2020
Tackling space debris - a global priority
... 150,000 untrackable particles which are expected to stay in orbit for several decades. Further, on 10 February 2009, Iridium 33 (then a fully-functional satellite owned by the US) was accidently struck by Cosmos-2251 (a defunct satellite owned...
September 2021
Developing an in-orbit servicing and manufacturing economy
... collisions are low-probability but high-impact events. In 2009, for example, two satellites (the operational Iridium 33 and inactive Kosmos-2251) collided in orbit, resulting in over 2000 debris objects, many of which remain in orbit...
April 2018
Future Cubesat swarms pose significant communications challenges
...swarm missions such as EDSN (Edison Space Network) and Iridium. EDSN consists of a swarm of eight CubeSats at 450...station using S-band. Though not CubeSats, in comparison the Iridium system features 66 operational satellites in six planes of 11 ...
March 2015
Sky links: from multi-satellite systems to nano-launchers
.... Many promising low-orbit spacecraft are performing experiments on-board, with on-board modems of Globalstar, Inmarsat, Iridium constellations. TCP/IP-like protocols are being developed by NASA for low-orbit space systems. Satellite-to-satellite...
August 2018
Flouting the rules on satellite registrations
.... In such cases, UNOOSA should exercise the power of decision-making and dispute resolution. Registration of the Iridium 33 communications satellite, launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in September 1997, was accidentally omitted. In February 2009...
January 2020
Satellite-based IoT - the race is on
... and different forms of connectivity are targeting the IoT market with smallsats, ranging from heavyweights like Iridium, Orbcomm and Eutelsat to newcomers like Fleet, Myriota, Lacuna Space, Blink Astro and NanoAvionics. Australia-based...
