SpaceX has secured a new contract to launch five new satellites by Iridium Communications into space.
Comprising spares of Iridium NEXT constellations, the satellites are scheduled to be launched by early next year from the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, US.
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The proposed launch will be shared by two satellites, which will be jointly operated by Nasa and GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences under the gravity recovery and climate experiment follow-on (GRACE-FO) mission.
The GRACE-FO will be deployed into a separate low-Earth orbit.
Iridium Communications CEO Matt Desch said: “This is a very smart way to get additional Iridium NEXT satellites into orbit.
“This launch provides added resiliency to our network for not much more than we had planned originally to launch 72 satellites, including two with Kosmotras.
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By GlobalData“We are pleased to be sharing a rocket with Nasa and GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences for this additional SpaceX launch, and GFZ has been a great business partner throughout this process.”
Iridium also noted that the planned launch will help the company to reduce material expenses due to the efficiency of sharing the rocket with GRACE-FO.
In addition, the launch will allow Iridium to launch five satellites directly into their operational orbital, increasing the number of planned in-orbit spares by three satellites.
Last month, SpaceX launched the first set of Iridium NEXT satellites, which are currently under test in-orbit.
