Communications
IRIDIUM 122
Global Mobile Satellite Network (Iridium NEXT) · Iridium Communications
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One of the Iridium NEXT satellites, providing global mobile satellite communications and hosting the Aireon aircraft surveillance payload. Since Aireon went operational, air traffic controllers over the North Atlantic — previously limited to procedural separation with no real-time radar — can now track aircraft with radar-equivalent precision, a genuine aviation safety breakthrough enabled by this satellite constellation.
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
- 42957
- Int’l designator
- 2017-061C
- Launched
- 2017
Orbital elements from CelesTrak, as of 22 Sep 2026.
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