Iridium Announces Date for Fifth Iridium® NEXT LaunchFirst Iridium launch of 2018 set to begin rapid launch cadence targeting completion by mid-year MCLEAN, Va., Jan. 22, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ:IRDM) announced today that the fifth Iridium NEXT launch has been targeted by SpaceX for March 18, 2018 at 8:19 am PDT (15:19 UTC) from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The first of four launches planned for 2018, Iridium-5 will deliver 10 more Iridium NEXT satellites to orbit, bringing the total number of new satellites deployed to 50. This launch will use the same Falcon 9 first stage as the Iridium-3 launch that took place in October 2017 and begin a rapid-cadence launch schedule targeting completion of the Iridium manifest by mid-2018. “We are entering the home stretch,” said Matt Desch, chief executive officer, at Iridium. “This is going to be a monumental year for us as we complete our constellation refresh. In addition to four launches, we will continue the testing and validation processes for our new specialty broadband service, Iridium CertusSM, and look forward to its commercial launch later this year. We consider 2017 to be a great success and anticipate this year to be even better.”The Iridium network is comprised of six polar orbiting planes, each containing 11 operational crosslinked satellites, for a total of 66 satellites in the active constellation. The Iridium-5 launch will deliver the new satellites to orbital plane 1, where all 10 will go directly into service after testing and validation. Following Iridium-5, the Iridium-6 Rideshare mission is targeted for mid-to-late April. The Rideshare will carry five Iridium NEXT satellites and the twin satellites for the NASA/German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ) Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment Follow-On mission. The final four launches will bring a total of 35 new satellites to space, completing the constellation of 66 operational satellites and 9 in-orbit spares.Iridium NEXT is the company's $3 billion, next-generation, mobile, global satellite network scheduled for completion in 2018. The constellation features 66 active satellites, plus nine on-orbit spares. In total, 81 new satellites are being built, with the six remaining satellites serving as ground spares. Iridium NEXT will replace the company's existing global constellation in one of the largest technology upgrades ever completed in space. It represents the evolution of critical communications infrastructure that governments and organizations worldwide rely on to drive business, enable connectivity, empower disaster relief efforts and more.For more information about Iridium NEXT, please visit www.IridiumNEXT.com
Given that the upcoming PAZ launch and Iridium 5 launches will expend their first stages, it looks like Iridium 6 will likely be the first Vandenberg RTLS mission. That is unless, of course, the secondary payloads make the rocket too heavy for RTLS. However, the current manifest chart says "~6k", lighter than the usual 9600 lbs. Iridium missions.
I've never heard of that limitation, Sc00chy. Do you have a source for that?
For @IridiumComm, if @SpaceX launches today OK as planned, the 5th IRDM 10-sat Falcon 9 launch should occur on March 29. Then 6th F9 launch end-April.
"Following next month’s launch, our cadence with SpaceX should move more rapidly as launch frequency is planned to increase to approximately one launch every five to six weeks or so. In fact, our sixth launch is currently scheduled for a quick turnaround at the end of April, that will be a rideshare with the JPL German Grace satellites in which we’ll utilize half of the payload to launch five Iridium NEXT satellites alongside the two Grace satellites which will be mounted on the dispenser above ours."
Tagnan:What about iridium 6? At the very least do you know if it will be reused or not?Matt Desch:Considering, but its a ride share so a little more complicated and hasn't been totally finalized...Tagnan:How much do ride shares get to decide in terms of vehicle used and other options?Matt Desch:It's a cooperative effort, and mostly decided up front in a contract, or in ongoing discussions as you jointly prepare and project manage towards the launch. In this case, we're the lead with SpaceX, but we work to make sure decisions are right for our rideshare partner too.
I expect/predict that core 1043 is being refurbed for this launch...If it does require a new core it must be 1047. In that case 1043 would most likely be used for IridiumNext-7...
Quote from: Jakusb on 03/13/2018 08:32 amI expect/predict that core 1043 is being refurbed for this launch...If it does require a new core it must be 1047. In that case 1043 would most likely be used for IridiumNext-7...Interesting, even in spite of the NASA science payload? I've assumed that GRACE-FO are somewhat more valuable/irreplaceable than a Cargo Dragon, the only mission type we've yet to see NASA accept flight-proven boosters for. With TESS, LSP didn't even want it to fly on the first new Block 5 core, let alone a flight-proven booster.