All is good as Monday's SpaceX launch out of Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, of Iridium's 10 satellites brings the constellation total to 30 getting closer to the total of 75 required for a fully operational constellation.
Iridium Communications announced today that the third set of 10 Iridium NEXT satellites, launched Monday by SpaceX, are functioning nominally and have begun the testing and validation process.
Scott Smith, chief operating officer at Iridium said that since Monday’s success, all things are pointing positive, and the team at the Satellite Network Operations Center (SNOC) is ready and has already been working around the clock since their deployment Monday. Unlike previous launches, where some satellites were sent drifting to their operational orbital plane, all 10 satellites from this launch will go directly into operation once testing is completed. This phase of satellite maneuvers and testing is where the Iridium satellite network operations teams truly shine.
Now, and for approximately the next 45 days, these newly launched satellites will undergo a series of testing and validation procedures, ensuring they are ready for integration with the operational constellation.
Once testing is completed, Iridium will also hand over control of Aireon’s Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast hosted payload, to the team at Aireon’s Hosted Payload Operations Center (HPOC), also in Leesburg, Virginia.
