SpaceX to launch 5 spare Iridium satellites – SpaceNews
WASHINGTON — Iridium will start 5 of its remaining 6 floor spare satellites on a Falcon 9 rideshare mission in 2023, the firm introduced Sept. 8.
Iridium said it selected SpaceX for the launch of the 5 satellites, sharing a launch with other, unnamed payloads. The start is scheduled for the middle of 2023 from Vandenberg Area Power Foundation in California.
“We have constantly reported that when the suitable option introduced alone, we would start many, if not all, of our remaining ground spares, and just these types of an possibility came about,” Matt Desch, main government of Iridium, reported in a statement announcing the launch. “Our constellation is very healthier having said that, the spare satellites have no utility to us on the ground.”
Iridium released its second generation of 75 satellites on eight Falcon 9 missions from January 2017 to January 2019. 7 of the launches were focused to Iridium and carried 10 satellites every, when the eighth was a rideshare mission with 5 Iridium satellites and two NASA-German GRACE-FO Earth science spacecraft.
Iridium indicated earlier this year it was looking for to start up to 5 of the remaining 6 spare satellites, presently in storage in Arizona. Desch reported in April that the company was hunting for a charge-helpful chance to launch the satellites rather than carry on to shell out to continue to keep them in storage. In its next quarter earnings release July 26, Iridium declared it signed a deal for the start of five satellites for $35 million but did not disclose the start supplier
Iridium signed a contract with compact start motor vehicle startup Relativity Room in 2020 to launch up to six of the floor spares on Relativity’s Terran 1 rocket. The companies mentioned at the time the spares would be released individually on an on-demand from customers basis to fill gaps in Iridium’s constellation.
Desch said in the July 26 earnings contact that the 5 satellites lined by the new deal would not be launched by Relativity. “We do have an arrangement still” with Relativity, he claimed. “It offered the chance to launch, but didn’t call for a precise quantity of satellites to start.”
He hinted in the get in touch with that the contract could still be exercised for the last spare satellite, and reiterated that in a tweet soon after announcing the SpaceX launch contract. “It’s an option for us. We still help Relativity’s progress (and the rest of the start industry),” he wrote. “Focused on this a person now although.”
