
Iridium satellite constellation - MichaelCORS
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_satellite_constellation
======
MCRed
Being an Iridium investor in the late 1990s was quite an experience. This was
the dotcom boom, and Iridium looked like the next step in communications--
imagine being able to make a call or send data from anywhere in the world?
Without the expense and cost of building out the cell network!

Shares in the company built in value with each launch as each launch put
another major chunk of infrastructure in orbit.

This was totally different than those dotcom trifles like "Flooz" who you knew
would just never amount to anything.

I still have my Iridium share certificate.

Alas, there was a bankruptcy, common holders were wiped out, and while it
wasn't the total scam that GlobalStar and Global Crossing (The latter I
consider to be a deliberate fraud much worse than Enron) it sure felt kinda
shady.

I can say we're not in a stock bubble now in part because things like this are
not going on the way they were.

Iridium was an expensive lesson for me. If only I'd put that money into
Apple-- and the kicker-- I thought about it seriously.

That said, over the years, I've made a lot more from stock picking than I ever
have from any index fund. It's not as hard as people make out, or as
impossible... but you do learn lessons. And iridium was a lesson.

On some level, I'm glad it's still operational, though I think it's sad that
so many years have passed and the network hasn't advanced significantly enough
to give terrestrial carriers a run for their money.

~~~
andymoe
I was pretty excited about this when they were putting them up but of course I
was just a kid so I didn't lose any money investing in them. :-)

I am excited to see that the Iridium NEXT [1] constellation is on the SpaceX
launch manifests [2] not too far down the list. There are seven iridium
flights in line. Hopefully this time they can find a bigger market and drive
down costs.

[1]
[https://www.iridium.com/About/IridiumNEXT.aspx](https://www.iridium.com/About/IridiumNEXT.aspx)

[2] [http://www.spacex.com/missions](http://www.spacex.com/missions)

~~~
diek
What's also exciting about Iridium NEXT is they will have a hosted payload
that will do global tracking of aircraft. Right now organizations like the FAA
and NAV CANADA are very dependent on ground stations to track planes.
Satellite tracking would be a big step forward:
[http://www.aireon.com/AboutAireon/AnIridiumInnovation](http://www.aireon.com/AboutAireon/AnIridiumInnovation)

~~~
ak217
How does that compare to Immarsat?

~~~
apercu
Inmarsat's constellation is not global (pole to pole) coverage. Iridium's
value proposition here (with a subsidiary named Aireon) is global ADS-B
coverage.

------
Animats
Iridium turned out to be very useful. The U.S. Government put in money after
the bankruptcy to keep it alive, in exchange for half of the airtime. After
the US invaded Iraq and Afghanistan, that turned out to be very useful.

The system has satellite-to-satellite links, and a call between two Iridium
handsets doesn't go through ground stations. Back in 1999, the FBI was
concerned that they wouldn't be able to wiretap Iridium calls. A capability
for that was added. When the Government took a share in the system, network
control was moved from Schaumburg, IL, to the Virginia suburbs near CIA HQ.

~~~
apercu
Something to the effect of the low earth orbit and the number of satellites
makes Iridium really useful in the mountainous terrain of Afghanistan.

------
tjbrennan
Iridium flares are a really neat night sky phenomenon to look for. The
predictions can be found on satellite tracking sites [1]. I caught one by
accident when I noticed a satellite passing overhead on my way to my car one
night. Over the next few seconds it increased to dazzling brightness, and then
it disappeared just as quickly. I couldn't believe my luck.

[1] [http://www.heavens-above.com/IridiumFlares.aspx](http://www.heavens-
above.com/IridiumFlares.aspx)

~~~
kokey
You are very lucky. I had a script scrape that site (not sure if I broke their
TOS) and send me an SMS about 5-10 minutes before a visible pass of something
bright including Iridium flares, but I found that even if you know the exact
time and direction of where it will happen it is still easy to miss it. It's
very nice to see one when you do. If the sky is dark you can often see the
satellite before and after it goes bright, but I've seen one shine through a
blue sky which must be perplexing to spot by accident by people who don't know
about these.

------
function_seven
For anyone looking for more info on the collision referenced in the article,
[http://www.agi.com/media-center/multimedia/current-
events/ir...](http://www.agi.com/media-center/multimedia/current-
events/iridium-33-cosmos-2251-collision/) has a video depicting the debris
path.

I must have been preoccupied back in 2009, because this is the first I've
heard of it.

EDIT: That video file plays wonky for me. Youtube has it as well:
[http://youtu.be/_o7EKlqCE20](http://youtu.be/_o7EKlqCE20)

------
fudged71
The RockBLOCK is even compatible with Raspberry Pi!
[https://www.rock7mobile.com/products-
rockblock](https://www.rock7mobile.com/products-rockblock)

~~~
throwaway_yy2Di
$1.26 - $3.77 per thousand characters... wow.

I think it'd be cheaper to build your own acoustic modem and glue it to a
handset.

~~~
duskwuff
Undoubtedly. But a handset will only operate where a cell signal is available;
Iridium will operate _anywhere on the planet_ , so long as you have line-of-
sight to the sky.

~~~
adamgamble
I think he meant iridium handset but I could be wrong.

~~~
ars
He did mean that, but it wouldn't help - voice calls are very expensive on
Iridium.

~~~
kabouseng
Last I checked (~2 years back) it was 7$ / minute.

~~~
easytiger
Well if you are stranded half way across The Sahara, I think you'd fork out $7

------
elliottcarlson
Wow, I worked on the Iridium website back in early 2002 (via an agency, not
for Iridium themselves) - the woman who was my contact there was one of the
nicest clients I ever had to deal with.

------
InclinedPlane
One of the coolest things about Iridium was that they demonstrated it was
possible, today, to manufacture satellites in an assembly line fashion at
enormous per satellite cost reductions. If orbital launch gets cheaper, which
seems very likely, that will become highly relevant, and shows that we can
take advantage of cheap access to space, even today.

~~~
DeanCollinsNY
Sure but at what "potential catastrophe cost"?

When something "goes wrong" with one of these satellites and wipes out the
latest CIA satellite etc or wipes out a pay tv satellite....who is liable and
to what ends?

~~~
InclinedPlane
The cheaper it is to launch, the easier it is to clean up orbital debris. The
risk from debris in orbit isn't from too many satellites, space is pretty
damned empty, the risk comes from thousands upon thousands of fragments, some
of them created intentionally. Moreover, as it gets cheaper to launch
satellites it also becomes more and more possible to add extra weight to them,
to put in backup systems which deorbit the satellites if they become
inoperable.

------
callesgg
300 bytes per second. And you pay per minute of conection time rather than
data amount.

In my mind The iridium network is cool, but a bit to outdated for anything
other than phone conversations and stuff like remote sensors like Weather
buoys.

I am looking at the near future when it comes to "consumer" satelite
communication, there is some stuff there.

------
jwl
I remember tracking the flashes these satellites made in the sky. Was quite
cool as a teenager to be able to predict a flash of light at a particular time
in the night sky.

~~~
nacnud
You still can: [http://www.heavens-
above.com/IridiumFlares.aspx?lat=0&lng=0&...](http://www.heavens-
above.com/IridiumFlares.aspx?lat=0&lng=0&loc=Unspecified&alt=0&tz=UCT)

(you'll probably need to set your location)

~~~
gus_massa
Easier steps if you don't know the exact latitude and longitude of your place:

1) Go to [http://www.heavens-above.com/](http://www.heavens-above.com/)

2) Press "Change your observing location"

3) Choose the city and press "update" at the bottom

4) Press "Iridium Flares"

------
wut42
I work with iridium enabled devices, and their network has some interesting
uses :) Seeing the flares is awesome, too.

~~~
fudged71
What kind of interesting uses are you referring to?

