Iridium Satellite has contracted with seven key partners in the beginning phase of designing and developing its "Iridium NEXT" satellite constellation. These first partners — Avaliant, Boeing, General Dynamics, KinetX, MicroSat Systems, Inc. (MSI) and Trident Sensors — will work with Iridium on systems engineering, requirements definition and architecture development.
"We are excited by the amount of enthusiasm we've seen building around NEXT from our partners and potential associates," said Matt Desch, chairman and CEO, Iridium. "These companies represent some of the most innovative and experienced in the industry. We look forward to working with them and many others as we design, build and launch our next-generation constellation."
Iridium launched the NEXT initiative earlier this year and, when deployed, NEXT will offer significantly enhanced services to the company's current and new customers. Iridium will deploy NEXT on a schedule supporting a smooth transition from the current constellation.
While laying the foundation for the future, Iridium continues to introduce important enhancements to its current constellation with initiatives to offer higher-speed services, as well as new opportunities for data services and embedded systems.
In addition to network equipment sustainment and system upgrades, Iridium has been investing in new infrastructure to add features and to build in redundancy, including new ground stations in Fairbanks, Alaska and Svalbard, Norway.
