Riding a McDonnell Douglas Delta II booster, the latest batch of low Earth
orbit “Little LEOs” in the Iridium system were launched yesterday from
Vandenberg AFB, Calif. First reports indicate all is well with the
smallsats, bringing the total of Iridium spacecraft now aloft to 17.
Blast-off from Launch Complex 2 at the military spaceport came at 6:04 am
Pacific time Wednesday, inside of a tight five second launch “window”. The
booster roared away into the dawn, pitching over to a flight azimuth of 196
degrees, north to south. The launch marked the second time the Delta has
been used to deliver Iridums to orbit. On May 5th a Delta delivered a crop
of the satellites successfully. Iridium has also used the Russian Proton
booster from Baikonur Cosmodrome. Eventually, the company will use nearly
every available commercial launch vehicle in the medium lift class,
possibly including Long March 3 boosters from Xichiang Space Center, China.
Once aloft, the Iridium spacecraft orbit at 420 nautical miles altitude. The final satellite constellation, comprised of some 66 spacecraft, is
planned to provide a space-based satellite wireless communications network
that will allow telephone connections anywhere on Earth. The constellation
will feature 11 satellites each in one of six separate orbital planes.
Completion of the network is planned for next year.
