The largest single customer, accounting with 20%, is the military, led by the U.S. The satellites are operated and maintained by Boeing. On January 1, 2001, the Iridium system was taken over by the newly founded Iridium Satellite LLC and commercial operations resumed on March 30, 2001. The satellites should be steered into the earth’s atmosphere in order to let them burn up purposefully. The construction of the satellite network cost 5 billion USD.Īlready in August 2000 Iridium Inc. was founded to develop the system and put it into operation in September 1998. In 1988, the concept for it was finalized, and then in 1991, Iridium Inc. It was to enable worldwide voice and data transmission via satellite phones and PDAs. The idea for Iridium was born at Motorola in 1985. Before operating, importing or exporting satellite phones, it must be clarified whether this is permitted and whether there is a mandatory registration. In some countries, there is a mandatory registration of Iridium satellite phones (e.g., in 2021: Russia). Some countries allow the import, export and operation of Iridium satellite phones on their territory only under certain conditions. Due to the Earth’s rotation, an Iridium satellite is again at the zenith after about 120 minutes.Īlthough Iridium’s network coverage technically permits worldwide use, Iridium satellite phones may not be imported or used in some countries for legal reasons (e.g., in 2021: India, Cuba, North Korea).
In a very deep canyon, where there is an unrestricted view of the sky only at the zenith, no communication is possible for more than 120 minutes in the worst case, since no Iridium satellite comes into visual contact during this time. Even shrubs, trees, house and cabin walls can interfere with Iridium communications. At a location that does fit this rule, such as in a deep ravine, interruptions in communication may occur. To ensure proper, uninterrupted communication with Iridium, no object above an elevation angle of 8.2° should interfere with the view to the sky. Until today, Iridium is the only satellite network that guarantees coverage at both polar caps.Ĭommunication with Iridium is possible from any location on Earth at any time, provided there is a clear view of the sky in all directions. Due to the polar orbits, the coverage density at the poles is particularly high. A satellite needs about 100 minutes to orbit the earth, and about 10 minutes from horizon to horizon. The Iridium satellites orbit the earth at an altitude of about 780 km in six nearly polar orbits (orbital inclination = 86.4°), each with eleven functioning satellites and one reserve satellite per orbit. To enable a connection to be established, the satellites must therefore be in a low earth orbit. The transmission power of cell phones is limited for health reasons. The connection then finds its way into the terrestrial networks via this ground stations.
An active connection is mediated from satellite to satellite until one of these is within range of a gateway. In the case of Iridium, the individual satellites are additionally connected to each other by inter-satellite links (ISLs). Iridium devices can be used absolutely globally. The satellite network is connected to the existing terrestrial telephone and internet network via several gateways (ground stations). The terminals communicate directly with the satellites. The main advantage of a satellite-based communications system is that large areas can be covered without terrestrial stations. The current phone models will continue to function on the NEXT network, but will continue to offer only 2.4 kbps data rates. However, GMDSS is so far (as of January 2022) only available for one maritime phone (LT-3100S), the GMDSS function for the maritime Certus terminals of the manufacturers Thales, Intellian and Cobham is still pending. Iridium has been approved for the Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) as part of the innovations.
Iridium satellite network free#
Send a free message to a Iridium satellite phone
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