Dr. Om Gupta
"Innovative Technologies on Iridium NEXT"

Iridium has become a mobile satellite success story of this decade since its re-launch in 2001. It is growing the fastest amongst this small group of companies, and the largest DoD provider of mobile satellite services. How did it achieve this success? Innovative low earth orbiting (LEO) technology created by Motorola in the 90s is one factor contributing to this success, but the new Iridium company, called Iridium Satellite LLC (Iridium) has combined it with new ways to use this system and perpetuate its usage well beyond its intended market. Iridium has begun planning the next generation system called “NEXT” to be launched in 2013. This new system is being architected to take advantage of today’s technology to enable new services, which is in addition to the primary communication mission to serve its growing customer base. One such innovation being considered is carrying secondary payloads on 66 satellites, leading to unprecedented capabilities that could allow observing earth’s weather globally in near-real time.

Funding provided in part by Department of Labor, Employment & Training Administration: WIRED Initiative