Communications
IRIDIUM 106
Global Mobile Satellite Network (Iridium NEXT) · Iridium Communications
Right now
LiveIt moves every second. See exactly where it is — worked out from its orbit, on your own device — on the live 3D globe.
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One of the 66 operational Iridium NEXT satellites that replaced the original 1990s Iridium constellation between 2017 and 2019 — one of the largest satellite replacement campaigns in commercial space history, launched entirely on SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets. Unlike its predecessor, whose polished antenna panels famously produced brilliant 'Iridium flares' visible to the naked eye, Iridium NEXT's redesigned antennas don't flare — a minor loss for amateur astronomers, but a sign of improved solar panel efficiency. Iridium NEXT also hosts Aireon, a real-time global air traffic surveillance system that tracks aircraft ADS-B signals even over oceans and polar regions where no ground radar exists.
Its orbit
- Orbit
- Low Earth Orbitcan appear as a fast-moving star at dawn or dusk
- Altitude
- 485–487 mi (780–783 km)
- Inclination
- 86.4°
- One orbit
- 100.3 minutes14.4 orbits a day
- NORAD ID
- 41917
- Int’l designator
- 2017-003A
- Launched
- 2017
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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