Iridium makes down payment on satellite launch

Iridium Communications reports that it has made a deposit of $19 million with an unnamed launch services provider to "secure the terms and conditions" associated with its next generation satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT.

 

The company broke the news in a statement to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, noting that the deposit is fully refundable "if financing is not secured or if a full scale development contract for the design and manufacture of the Iridium NEXT satellites is not signed within 12 months."

 

The Iridium NEXT constellation of 66 low Earth orbit satellites is expected to cost $2.7 billion between now and 2016, the company confirmed.

 

The list of potential partners to construct the network currently stands at two, with Lockheed Martin of the United States and Thales Alenia Space of France the remaining bidders left in the process. Iridium has indicated that it expects to name a final contractor shortly.

 

In other news, Iridium has also announced that its new satellite short burst data (SBD) transceiver is ready for market one month ahead of schedule, and that the company is accepting orders.

 

The Iridium 9602 SBD transceiver, smaller and lighter than the company’s previous model, is a two-way device designed to be embedded into partner-developed products and systems that enable remote M2M (Machine-to-Machine) asset tracking and monitoring.

 

The launch marks the culmination of a two year R&D collaboration among Iridium and its technical partners, according to the company.

 

Already planned Iridium 9602-based applications include fleet management applications, enterprise logistics and supply-chain visibility.

 

“The [new unit] provides our partners flexibility to serve new markets that require a smaller, lighter transceiver that is more easily integrated into their technology and is more affordable to their end-user customers,” said Joel Thompson, vice president of product management at Iridium.