![]() This configuration ensures that an Iridium handset will be able to send and receive calls from any location on the planet (the only exceptions to this being countries who have declined to support the service for political reasons). Travelling at 16,832 miles per hour, each satellite is able to circle the globe every 100 minutes. To achieve this the Iridium network uses 66 satellites, 450 miles high, orbiting the globe on 6 different planes. Iridium’s mission was to create a satellite service that would provide truly global coverage, a service that Inmarsat and Globalstar have not yet realised. Iridium was re-launched in 2001 and has been operating ever since. They very publicly went bankrupt in 1999 one year after the service was launched. ![]() Iridium was able to manoeuvre one of their on-orbit spares, to replace the destroyed satellite.Iridium is probably the most famous, or rather notorious, of the satellite systems on the market. High above northern Russia on February 10 th 2009, the Iridium 33 satellite collided with an obsolete Russian satellite at a hypervelocity of about 35,000 km/h (22,000 miles per hour)! This was the first time this had occurred and obviously created a lot of debris/space junk which is now hazardous to other satellites in a similar orbit. To find out when the next Iridium flare near you will be (and how bright), enter your location into the Heaven’s Above website and it will predict the possible sightings for the next 10 days! CRASH - Satellites Collide In Space! These are called Iridium flares momentary slow flashes of light which can even be seen in the daylight.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |