Iridium Satellite Constellation
The Iridium system requires 66 active satellites in orbit to complete its constellation and spare satellites are kept in-orbit to serve in case of failure. The satellites are in six polar low Earth orbital planes at a height of approximately 485 miles (780 km). Satellites communicate with neighboring satellites via Ka band intersatellite links to relay communications to and from ground stations. Most of these satellites were launched in the late 1990s before the company went through bankruptcy. Since the bankruptcy, only seven additional satellites have been launched but an updated constellation of 66 satellites called Iridium NEXT is currently being developed and is planned for launch in 2015-2017 on SpaceX Falcon 9 Launch Vehicles from Vandenberg AFB Space Launch Complex 3 in California.
Read more about this topic: Iridium Communications
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