Tag: Iridium NEXT
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SpaceX return-to-flight slips to early January
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett SpaceX’s first mission since a rocket explosion on a Florida launch pad is now scheduled for early January, when a Falcon 9 booster is set to begin a 70-satellite deployment for Iridium’s next-generation voice and…
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SpaceX sets Dec. 16 for first flight since launch pad explosion
File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket rolling to the launch pad at Space Launch Complex 4-East at Vandenberg. Credit: SpaceX The first 10 satellites in Iridium’s next-generation mobile voice and data network could head into orbit from California as soon as Dec. 16 on SpaceX’s first Falcon 9 flight since a booster exploded on…
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SpaceX hopes procedure fix can allow Falcon 9 launches to resume
File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket rolling out to its launch pad at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: SpaceX Investigators probing the Sept. 1 explosion of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on its launch pad in Florida believe a high-pressure gas tank inside the launcher’s upper stage most likely burst due to…
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Falcon 9 could launch again in November, Falcon Heavy debut slips to 2017
File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, zoomed in on the rocket’s interstage and second stage. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now SpaceX hopes to resume launches in November as the company continues its investigation into a Sept. 1 launch pad explosion to determine whether the accident originated on the Falcon 9 rocket or ground systems,…
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Falcon 9 could launch again in November, Falcon Heavy debut slips to 2017
File photo of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, zoomed in on the rocket’s interstage and second stage. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now SpaceX hopes to resume launches in November as the company continues its investigation into a Sept. 1 launch pad explosion to determine whether the accident originated on the Falcon 9 rocket or ground systems,…
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SpaceX may turn to other launch pads when rocket flights resume
Updated on Wednesday with new images of Complex 40 and Pad 39A. SpaceX says launch pad 39A, last used by the space shuttle program in 2011, should be ready for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launches in November. Credit: NASA Ground crews could face months of cleanup and repairs to SpaceX’s primary launch pad at Cape…
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First two Iridium Next satellites shipped to Vandenberg
Technicians load the first two Iridium Next satellites into their shipping containers at Orbital ATK’s manufacturing facility in Gilbert, Arizona. Credit: Iridium The first two next-generation Iridium satellites, designed to connect global subscribers with data and voice traffic, arrived at Vandenberg Air Force Base on Tuesday, where they will join eight more message relay craft…
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Iridium satellites rolling off assembly line in Arizona
The first two fully-complete Iridium Next satellites. Credit: Stephen Clark/Spaceflight Now Construction is complete on the first batch of 81 new satellites to overhaul Iridium’s mobile communications network, and the data relay stations will soon head from their factory near Phoenix to California’s hilly Central Coast for launch in September on a SpaceX Falcon 9…
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With Russian launch grounded, Iridium flips order of satellite deployments
Artist’s concept of an Iridium Next satellite. Credit: Iridium Stymied by Russian government dithering that has indefinitely grounded a test launch on a modified Soviet-era missile, Iridium officials say that SpaceX agreed to move forward to July the first of seven Falcon 9 launches from California with the company’s next-generation mobile communications satellites. Iridium originally…
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Radio bug to keep new Iridium satellites grounded until April
Artist’s concept of an Iridium Next satellite. Credit: Thales Alenia Space The first launch for Iridium’s next-generation mobile communications fleet has been pushed back four months — from December until April — to resolve a technical problem inside the spacecraft’s Ka-band communications payload. The announcement Oct. 29 means Iridium will miss a long-targeted timetable to…