Communications
IRIDIUM 126
Global Mobile Satellite Network (Iridium NEXT) · Iridium Communications
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One of the Iridium NEXT satellites, launched to replace the original Iridium constellation's aging first-generation satellites. Iridium's history is a case study in space industry economics: a $5 billion investment that went bankrupt within a year, sold for pennies on the dollar, and eventually rebuilt into a critical global communications utility now essential to shipping, aviation, and defense.
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
- 42809
- Int’l designator
- 2017-039G
- Launched
- 2017
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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