Iridium Communications Inc. is a company, based in McLean, Virginia, United States which operates the Iridium satellite constellation, a system of 66 active satellites used for worldwide voice and data communication from hand-heldsatellite phones and other transceiver units. The Iridium network is unique in that it covers the whole Earth, including poles, oceans and airways. The company derives its name from the chemical element iridium. The number of satellites projected in the early stages of planning was 77, the atomic number of iridium, evoking the metaphor of 77 electrons orbiting the nucleus.
Additional Info
- Country of Registration: USA
- Organisation Website: www.iridium.com
- Organisation Wikipedia Page: Iridium_Communications
Latest from Copernical Team
- The other space race: Why the world is obsessed with sending objects into orbit
- Interstellar comet swinging past Mars as a fleet of spacecraft looks on
- Port Canaveral preps for more rocket recoveries with third crane
- Fly over Xanthe Terra with Mars Express
- Pulsar Fusion to Demonstrate Advanced Propulsion on Momentus Vigoride Mission
- ESA and Avio advance design of reusable rocket upper stage
- Out-of-this-world ice geysers on Saturn's Enceladus
- Evidence of a past, deep ocean on Uranian moon, Ariel
- Scalable lunar power study launched by Honda and Astrobotic
- Moonquakes drive most new lunar landslides since 2009