Orbital Iridium NEXT - Manual

Communications
Mission Description
Under a contract from Thales Alenia Space, Orbital is assembling, integrating, and testing 81 spacecraft
for the Iridium NEXT program including 66 operational spacecraft, six on-orbit spares, and nine ground-
backup spacecraft. Orbital’s responsibilities also include Ground Support Equipment (GSE), payload
integration, including hosted payloads, shipment, and launch integration services.
Each spacecraft employs an L-band phased array antenna for generation of the 48-beam,
4,700 kilometer diameter cellular pattern on the Earth’s surface for communication with subscribers/
users. Ka-band links are also provided for communications with ground-based gateways and for
crosslinks with adjacent spacecraft in orbit. The cross-linked 66 satellite constellation forms a global
network in space allowing communications from a ground or airborne user from any location on Earth
to virtually anywhere else on Earth.
Coverage:
Worldwide
Mission:
Global mobile communications
Customers:
Thales Alenia Space – Cannes, France
Iridium Communications Inc. –
McLean, Virginia
FACTS AT A GLANCE
Artist's rendering of the Iridium NEXT
constellation of satellites
Iridium NEXT
The Next-generation Satellite Constellation of Iridium Communications Inc.
LEO