Iridium NEXT.

[Salo]

http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/08/03/first-two-iridium-next-satellites-shipped-to-vandenberg/

First two Iridium Next satellites shipped to Vandenberg             
 August 3, 2016 Stephen Clark
 
Technicians load the first two Iridium Next satellites into their shipping containers at Orbital ATK's manufacturing facility in Gilbert, Arizona. Credit: Iridium

The first two next-generation Iridium satellites, designed to connect global subscribers with data and voice traffic, arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base on Tuesday, where they will join eight more message relay craft for launch in September on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
This week's shipment via truck fr om an Orbital ATK satellite manufacturing plant near Phoenix to Vandenberg on California's Central Coast will be followed by the arrival of eight more spacecraft at the launch site.
Like the first two craft, subsequent satellites will be transported two-and-a-time inside self-stabilizing, climate-controlled containers on a truck to SpaceX's clean room at Vandenberg, wh ere Orbital ATK engineers will prepare the satellites for launch.
Final steps before attachment to the Falcon 9 rocket include fueling the satellites with in-space maneuvering propellants, final functional testing, and connecting the spacecraft with their SpaceX-built dispenser to ride inside the launcher's payload fairing.
Designed by Thales Alenia Space and assembled by Orbital ATK, each satellite will weigh nearly 1,900 pounds (860 kilograms), and when combined with the specially-designed multi-spacecraft mounting dispenser, the Iridium Next package will be the heaviest payload launched by SpaceX to date.
"We're excited for the upcoming first launch of Iridium Next and proud of the work we've completed for the Iridium Next program," said Kris Kroc, mission manager at SpaceX. "This is one of the heaviest payloads we will fly to date – 10 Iridium Next satellites weighing over 20,000 pounds."
Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg is scheduled for Sept. 19 at 9:49 p.m. PDT (12:49 a.m. EDT; 0449 GMT Sept. 20). After turning south over the Pacific Ocean, the two-stage Falcon 9 rocket will deploy the 10 Iridium Next satellites into polar orbit 388 miles (625 kilometers) above Earth.
From there, the satellites will complete three months of tests to check the health and function of spacecraft systems, ground and inter-satellite communications links, and tack-on instruments to track global air and maritime traffic.
The satellites will maneuver into the operational Iridium constellation at an altitude of 485 miles (780 kilometers), replacing the company's 66 existing satellites one-by-one.
 
Two parts of the first Iridium Next dispenser pictured inside SpaceX's processing facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base. The components arrived at Vandenberg in June. Credit: SpaceX

The upcoming launch is a big step for Iridium, which is spending $3 billion on the new satellite program. Iridium's current satellite network is aging — the old spacecraft launched between 1997 and 2002 — and needs an upgrade.
Matt Desch, Iridium's chief executive, calls it the biggest tech refresh in the history of satellite communications.
"The Iridium Next program has been more than seven years in the making, and is one of the most complex satellite programs underway today," Desch said July 28 in a quarterly earnings call.
The Federal Communications Commission granted regulatory approval for the launch, deployment and operation of the Iridium Next constellation Monday.
Another Falcon 9 launch from Vandenberg with 10 more Iridium Next satellites is scheduled for late December, Desch said, followed by five SpaceX launches in 2017 to complete Iridium's modernized fleet.
The first Iridium Next launch on a Falcon 9 was scheduled earlier this summer, but the U.S. Air Force took the military-run range at Vandenberg offline for maintenance, prompting a delay. The previous Sept. 12 launch date slipped a week because of a slight snag in the Falcon 9 rocket's production, Desch said.
As of July 28, Desch said eight Iridium Next satellites were complete at Orbital ATK's facility in Arizona, and the final two spacecraft assigned to next month's liftoff were scheduled to roll off the assembly line within a few days.
Iridium booked its seven Falcon 9 launches to use newly-built rockets, but Desch said in June he is open to putting his company's satellites on a used booster — at the right price — in the future.
Desch said he is confident the satellites and rockets will be ready for the rapid-fire launch campaign. After December, Iridium Next launches from Vandenberg should come every two months.
Technicians at Orbital ATK's plant in Arizona will finish an average of one satellite per week to meet the schedule.
"Now that we've stepped up to a high-rate (production) plan, we're on track to do that," Desch said. "SpaceX has assured me that they'll have rockets on time and available. There's always going to be a little movement around the final date, whether it be a short-term issue, or it could even be weather. But we really expect to keep on that pace all the way through the final launch, and the satellites that come into operation shortly thereafter."
Two Falcon 9 launches from Cape Canaveral are in SpaceX's queue before the Iridium Next mission, but Desch said Iridium's launch date is not directly tied to the timing of those flights.

[Salo]

Iridium Corporate Подлинная учетная запись ‏@IridiumComm  
Six #IridiumNEXT satellite vehicles down, 4 more to go! Another successful arrival at @VandenbergAFB #NEXTevolution
 
  6:29 - 17 авг. 2016 г.  

[Pirat5]

...в общей сложности восемь спутников из десяти необходимых для первого запуска, на месте. 

URL    Aug 22, 2016

[Pirat5]

https://twitter.com/IridiumBoss

[Pirat5]

29 авг. 2016 г.        Aireon‏@AireonLLC
.@IridiumComm NEXT sats 9 & 10 arrived at VAFB. First launch payload is complete!
https://twitter.com/AireonLLC/status/770276704832983040

[Apollo13]

Ступень выехала из Хоторна в Макрегор. До пуска осталось 19 дней...

View this post on Instagram

Еще нет отдельной темы для пуска?

[Димитър]

Apollo13 пишет:
До пуска осталось 19 дней...
 

View this post on Instagram

После аварии пуск не отложат?

[Apollo13]

Димитър пишет:

Apollo13 пишет:
До пуска осталось 19 дней...
 

View this post on Instagram

После аварии пуск не отложат?

Отложат конечно

[Salo]

Peter B. de Selding ‏@pbdes  50 мин.50 минут назад  
Iridium CFO Sept 8 on post-SpaceX failure. IRDM's full 2d-gen constellation is on SpaceX - 70 sats, 10 Falcon 9s.
 

[Salo]

http://spacenews.com/iridium-remains-fully-behind-spacex-as-spacexs-musk-hints-at-difficult-investigation/#sthash.W02T6sar.dpuf

Iridium remains fully behind SpaceX as SpaceX's Musk hints at difficult investigation
by Peter B. de Selding — September 9, 2016
 
Iridium Chief Financial Officer Thomas J. Fitzpatrick said the company had no real concerns about SpaceX's ability to return to flight. Iridium has scheduled the launch of 70 second-generation Iridium Next satellites on seven SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. Credit: Iridium  
 
PARIS — The commercial company with arguably the most at stake in a quick and successful return to flight of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket on Sept. 8 gave a ringing endorsement of the launch-service provider even as SpaceX founder Elon Musk issued statements saying the investigation will be complicated.
The comments fr om Iridium Chief Financial Officer Thomas J. Fitzpatrick at an investor conference came just hours before SpaceX founder Elon Musk, in a series of statements on Twitter, suggested the company does not yet know what happened.
Elon Musk tweets suggest failure's complexity
"Still working on the Falcon fireball investigation," Musk said in the first of three tweets whose time stamp implied that he was burning the midnight oil. "Turning out to be the most difficult and complex we have ever had in 14 years.
The Sept. 1 failure occurred as the Falcon 9 upper stage was being filled with fuel in preparation for a static firing of the vehicle's first-stage engine i preparation for a scheduled Sept. 3 launch. Customer Spacecom of Israel had agreed to allow its $200 million Amos-6 satellite to be on board during the test. The satellite was destroyed.
SpaceX has since said that placing payloads — for both government and commercial customers — on the rocket for the static firing has been a common practice at SpaceX for several years. Customers are given the right to refuse to permit their hardware to be aboard for the test.
Musk said one of the mysteries to be solved in the investigation is what sparked the fireball given that none of the rocket's motors were ignited.
"Important to note that this happened during routine filling operation," he said. "Engines were not on and there was no apparent heat source."
"Particularly trying to understand the bang sound a few seconds before the fireball goes off. May come fr om the rocket or something else."
McLean, Virginia-based Iridium Communications has seven Falcon 9 launches planned. The first had been scheduled for later this month, and all seven were to have occurred by the end of 2017.
Iridium second-generation in-service schedule in doubt
That schedule now looks unrealistic given Musk's statements and given that it remains unclear whether the problem's origin lies in the ground support equipment, which could be a straightforward issue; or somewhere in the rocket, which could result in a longer wait for the next launch.
Iridium's current constellation of mobile communications satellites is years past its original retirement and the company has been forced to resort to occasionally inventive ways of maximizing service.
Iridium has never suggested that it would move off SpaceX in the event of a failure. The company's contract is viewed in commercial-launch circles as a particularly good deal that could not be replaced elsewh ere, even if suitable rockets were available.
But Fitzpatrick said SpaceX and Iridium's original founder, Motorola, share a taste for technological innovation, and that this was also a part of the reason for committing so heavily to SpaceX.
"We and SpaceX share a kind of DNA. Many of the same engineers who worked on the original Iridium are working with us today, and these engineers on our staff in 2009 picked SpaceX, which didn't have a launch under its belt.
"But they've revolutionized the launch industry. Our engineers made the right choice in 2009. Yes, [SpaceX] have had a mishap. Our confidence in them is not shaken. We're sure they are going to figure out what happened and get back in business. They really are an economical provider.
"The schedule [before the SpaceX failure] was that we would launch sometime between Sept. 19 and Oct. 1, with the second launch 90 days later and subsequent launches in 60-day increments."
Fitzpatrick noted that the Iridium launches are to occur from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, and not from Cape Canaveral, wh ere the Sept. 1 failure occurred. So if SpaceX uncovers a simple-to-fix issue with the ground support equipment, it can apply that knowledge to a launch pad that otherwise needs no repair work.
"We don't have launch pad worries to the extent that the launch pad at Cape Canaveral has been damaged. Vandenberg's fine. We're more in wait mode on [the new schedule] right now," Fitzpatrick said.
Iridium purchased a "free" relaunch from SpaceX if one of the seven launches fails, and the satellite-construction contract with Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy is for 81 satellites, leaving nine spares beyond the 72 satellites Iridium wants to launch for Iridium Next.
In addition to the 70 satellites on SpaceX, Iridium is seeking alternatives to the Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket, which had been scheduled to put two satellites into orbit.
"We have a kind of hybrid insurance," Fitzpatrick said. "We need 66 satellites to operate the constellation, and we are launching 72 and building 81. In the event of a launch failure we get a free ride on SpaceX and we have the nine spares. The second launch is insured."

[Pirat5]

Всё-таки (несмотря на неудачу F-9) они по-прежнему ищут замену пуска на Днепре

[PIN]

А на Днепре в любом случает только максимум первые 2 аппарата для тестирования. Хотя, я до сих пор не верю, что Днепр может вывести сразу 2

[Salo]

Iridium Corporate ‏@IridiumComm  14 ч.14 часов назад  
Encouraged by SpaceX's Nov. target, but all based on a successful root cause finding and resolution. Ready to launch when our rocket is!

[Salo]

Peter B. de Selding ‏@pbdes  2 ч.2 часа назад  
Self-evident dept: IRDM CEO says IRDM sats wont be on SpaceX Falcon 9 for static fire test. No info re launch date or if IRDM is RTF payload

[Salo]

http://spacenews.com/iridium-expects-to-renegotiate-loan-agreement-by-years-end/

Iridium expects to renegotiate loan agreement by year's end
by Peter B. de Selding — October 31, 2016  
Iridium CEO Matthew J. Desch said the company's current constellation remains in good overall shape despite the loss of two satellites earlier this year, and that the just-completed insurance policy for the 10 SpaceX launches of 70 second-generation satellites was not affected by the Sept. 1 SpaceX rocket explosion. Credit: SpaceNews file photo.  

PARIS — Mobile satellite services provider Iridium Communications expects to complete negotiations with its lenders and its satellite manufacturer by the end of the year on loosening payment obligations to ride out the delay in the launch of its second-generation constellation.
As it awaits word on when launch-service provider SpaceX will return to flight after a Sept. 1 explosion during a test procedure, Iridium is contending with multiple challenges. Many of them are at least partly the result of the fact that the company's seven SpaceX launches, each carrying 10 Iridium Next satellites, likely will not be completed as planned by late 2017.
McLean, Virginia-based Iridium until recently had assumed that 2018 would be its first full year of operations with the Iridium Next satellites.
In an Oct. 27 conference call with investors and a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Iridium said the SpaceX delay means full second-generation service will not start until mid-2018, making 2019 the first full year of service.
That will delay the expected $47 million in annual revenue from data provision and hosting fees Iridium expects from customers Aireon, a start-up commercial aircraft-tracking service provider in which Iridium is a major investor; and Harris Corp., which is managing the secondary payloads on the Iridium Next satellites.
Revenue from other Iridium Next services also are likely to be delayed, although some do not require a full constellation.

Seeking to relax multiple loan covenants
To confront the situation, Iridium has opened negotiations with nine commercial lenders and the French government, which together are behind the $1.8 billion credit facility that is paying most of the $3 billion Iridium Next system's cost.
Among the debt covenants is a requirement that Iridium maintain a minimum cash reserve of $113 million dedicated to debt repayment. Starting in 2017, the reserve minimum rises to $189 million.
In addition to this, the credit facility has requirements on minimum cash balance, debt-to-equity ratio, hosted payload revenue levels and EBITDA, or earnings before interest, taxes, deprecation and amortization.
In the conference call, Iridium Chief Financial Officer Thomas J. Fitzpatrick said negotiations on relaxing some of these terms, and on stretching out payments to satellite prime contractor Thales Alenia Space of France and Italy, are under way.
"I think we will have a favorable outcome," Fitzpatrick said of the negotiations, but he agreed that the process could be compared to sausage making, in which everyone likes the outcome but no one enjoys the process by which it was made possible.
Iridium's contract with Thales Alenia Space is valued at $2.3 billion for 81 Iridium Next satellites. As of Sept. 30, it had remaining payments of about $728 million due.
The launch delay has a silver lining of sorts. With no launches, Iridium is not obliged to make some milestone payments to SpaceX and to Thales Alenia Space. As of Sept. 30, it had paid SpaceX about $339 million of contract's full value of $468.1 million.
Fitzpatrick said the launch delay has reduced Iridium's capital spending for 2016 by at least $100 million, to between $400 million and $450 million.

No effect on insurance from SpaceX failure
The SpaceX contract includes the right to a relaunch in the event of a failure of one of the seven contracted launches.
Iridium Chief Executive Mathew J. Desch said during the conference call that the company completed its Iridium Next launch insurance policy — also among the debt convent requirements — around the time of the Sept. 1 SpaceX explosion and that the terms and conditions did not change as a result of the failure.
To preserve cash, Iridium also has the option of reducing or eliminating the dividends it pays on its preferred stock. These total $3.85 million per quarter.
Iridium had planned to launch the first two Iridium Next satellites on a Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket, commercialized by Kosmotras of Moscow. But Kosmotras has been unable to secure the necessary permissions from the Russian government for the launch, and Iridium is seeking an alternative supplier for these two satellites.
Iridium has already paid Kosmotras $36.8 million for the launch. In its SEC filing, Iridium said it "may also be unable to recover the amounts already paid to Kosmotras."

Squeezing more life from aging constellation
Iridium's current constellation, in its 19th year of operation, is far past its planned retirement date, another reason the company is in a hurry to launch the higher-capacity Iridium Next.
Desch said the two Iridium satellites that failed earlier this year did not suffer from battery issues, and battery performance is not an issue with any of the other satellites in the constellation.
Given the constellation's age, industry observers regularly scrutinize its coverage for signs that it may be on the verge of a cascade of failures.
Desch said there are no such signs. "Health of the current constellation is not an immediate concern," he said, adding that the the short service delays occasioned by the loss of two satellites earlier this year were not serious given that the "hole" in the sky created by the absent satellites is quickly filled as other satellites pass over.
Desch said that assuming the new constellation si fully operational in 2018, Iridium will begin deorbiting its older satellites so that the first-generation constellation is out of orbit by the end of 2019.

[Salo]

Peter B. de Selding ‏@pbdes  1 ч.1 час назад  
Iridium: We may not be able to recover $36.8M we paid Kosmotras for Dnepr launch that's been stuck in Russia-Ukraine issues.

[PIN]

Так Космотрас сам может "not able to recover".  Зависит от того, насколько далеко "Пересвет" зашел. Так, что при банкротстве сможет что-то существенное своим клиентам вернуть или "спасибо и до свидания, а это вам на чай".

[PIN]

Salo пишет:
Iridium: We may not be able to recover $36.8M we paid Kosmotras for Dnepr launch that's been stuck in Russia-Ukraine issues.

Из их отчета SEC за 2015 год выходит, что еще 1.1 миллиона в этом году могут сгореть, а могли бы и на 15 "попасть", наивные.
As of December 31, 2015, we had made aggregate payments of $36.8 million to Kosmotras. Of the $15.0 million obligation for the year ended December 31, 2016, $1.1 million is in accounts payable.

[Salo]

Peter B. de Selding ‏@pbdes  58 мин.58 минут назад  
Orbital ATK: We & Thales delivered 1st 10 IRDM Next sats; AIT done on 13 more. We'll await SpaceX launch schedule clarity before shipping.

[Salo]

Matt Desch ‏@IridiumBoss
Our second stage has arrived at VAFB! First stage to follow soon. Still working to get our launch off this year!

Chris B - NSF ‏@NASASpaceflight  24 мин.24 минуты назад  
Chris B - NSF Ретвитнул(а) Matt Desch
 The likely RTF mission for SpaceX. Interesting that the first stage was at Vandy, but popped back to McGregor (and heading back soon).