Avionics
Iridium set to launch Next generation of satellites
Earlier this month Iridium reached a preliminary agreement for $1.8 billion to finance its Next constellation of advanced low orbit communications satellit

Earlier this month Iridium reached a preliminary agreement for $1.8 billion to finance its Next constellation of advanced low orbit communications satellites, slated for launch beginning in 2015. A syndicate of nine international banks is providing the financing.

Launch of the 66 Next satellites and seven spares will be handled by SpaceX from the Vandenberg Spaceport in southern California. The satellites will be constructed by Thales Alenia Space and managed by Boeing. The new satellites will provide more capacity, higher data rates and flexible bandwidth. Ahead of the launch, Iridium is beginning to move into new markets including LiveTV, flight data recorder streaming and alerting, and Future Air Navigation Systems (Fans), which enables reduced separation and more direct routing.

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