traded as nasdaq irdm industry satellite telecommunication founded 2001 headquarters mclean virginia united states area served global key people matthew j. desch ceo thomas j. fitzpatrick cfo bryan j. hartin products satellite communications equipment services satellite voice and data services website iridium.com iridium communications inc. formerly iridium satellite llc is a company based in mclean virginia united states which operates the iridium satellite constellation a system of 66 active satellites used for worldwide voice and data communication from hand held satellite phones and other transceiver units . the iridium network is unique in that it covers the whole earth including poles oceans and airways . the company derives its name from the chemical element iridium . the number of satellites projected in the early stages of planning was 77 the atomic number of iridium evoking the metaphor of 77 electrons orbiting the nucleus ; however 95 satellites have been launched so far ; the atomic number of americium . the satellites are frequently visible in the night sky as satellite flares a phenomenon typically observed as short lived bright flashes of light . contents 1 history 2 present status 3 hosted payload alliance 4 iridium satellite constellation 5 subscriber equipment 5.1 handsets 5.2 pagers 5.3 other satellite phones 5.4 standalone transceiver units 5.4.1 sbd modems 5.5 sim card 5.6 openport 6 services 6.1 voice and data calls 6.2 prepaid service 6.3 post paid service 6.4 phone numbers 6.5 paging service 6.6 short burst data 7 value added services 8 air safety communications 9 technical details 9.1 air interface 9.2 handoff 9.3 earth base stations 9.4 other technical information 9.5 tracking transceiver units 10 see also 11 references 12 external links history edit the iridium communications service was launched on november 1 1998 by what was then iridium ssc . the first iridium call was made by vice president of the united states al gore . 1 motorola provided the technology and major financial backing . 2 the logo of the company was designed by landor associates and represents the big dipper . 3 the founding company went into chapter 11 bankruptcy nine months later on august 13 1999 . 4 the handsets could not operate as promoted until the entire constellation of satellites was in place requiring a massive initial capital cost running into the billions of dollars . 5 the cost of service was prohibitive for many users reception indoors was difficult and the bulkiness and expense of the hand held devices when compared to terrestrial cellular mobile phones discouraged adoption among potential users . 4 mismanagement is another major factor cited in the original program s failure . in 1999 cnn writer david rohde detailed how he applied for iridium service and was sent information kits but was never contacted by a sales representative . he encountered programming problems on iridium s website and a run around from the company s representatives . 6 after iridium filed bankruptcy it cited difficulty gaining subscribers . 7 the initial commercial failure of iridium had a damping effect on other proposed commercial satellite constellation projects including teledesic . other schemes orbcomm ico global communications and globalstar followed iridium into bankruptcy protection while a number of other proposed schemes were never constructed . 4 at one stage there was a threat that the iridium satellites would have to be de orbited ; however they remained in orbit and operational . 8 9 their service was restarted in 2001 by the newly founded iridium satellite llc which was owned by a group of private investors . although the satellites and other assets and technology behind iridium were estimated to have cost around us 6 billion the investors bought the firm for about us 35 million . 5 in 2008 as part of a rebranding campaign by media graphics inc. the logo would be redesigned with updates to corporate color palette and font treatment . on february 10 2009 iridium 33 collided with a defunct russian satellite kosmos 2251 800 kilometres 500 mi over siberia . 10 two large debris clouds were created . 11 present status edit iridium satellite llc merged with a special purpose acquisition company ghq created by the investment bank greenhill & co. nyse ghl in september 2009 to create iridium communications inc. the public company trades on nasdaq under the symbol irdm . the company had 611 000 subscribers as of the end of december 2012 compared to 523 000 in december 2011 . revenue for the full year 2012 was us 383.5 million with operational ebitda of us 250.7 million . 12 the system is being used extensively by the u.s. department of defense through the dod gateway in hawaii . 13 the service revenue to governments made up 23 % of iridium s revenues in 2012 . an investigation was begun into the dod contract after a protest by globalstar to the u.s. general accounting office that no tender was provided . a hold against the contract was lifted at the request of the department of defense which cited national security reasons . 14 this allows the continued use of the network during the investigation . the commercial gateway in tempe arizona provides voice data and paging services for commercial customers on a global basis . typical customers include maritime aviation government the petroleum industry scientists and frequent world travelers . iridium satellites are now an essential component of communications with remote science camps especially the amundsen scott south pole station . in december 2006 an array of twelve iridium modems was put online providing continuous data services to the station for the first time . total bandwidth is 28.8 kbit s. 15 matt desch is the ceo of iridium llc . 16 hosted payload alliance edit iridium is a founding member of the hosted payload alliance hpa a satellite industry alliance formed to increase awareness of the benefits of hosted government payloads on commercial satellites . membership in the hpa is open to satellite operators satellite manufacturers system integrators and other interested parties . 17 iridium satellite constellation edit main article iridium satellite constellation the iridium system requires 66 active satellites in orbit to complete its constellation and spare satellites are kept in orbit to serve in case of failure . the satellites are in six polar low earth orbital planes at a height of approximately 485 miles 780 km . satellites communicate with neighboring satellites via ka band intersatellite links to relay communications to and from ground stations . most of these satellites were launched in the late 1990s before the company went through bankruptcy . since the bankruptcy only seven additional satellites have been launched but an updated constellation of 66 satellites called iridium next is currently being developed and is planned for launch between 2015 and 2017 on spacex falcon 9 launch vehicles from vandenberg afb space launch complex 3 in california . 18 19 subscriber equipment edit handsets edit the former iridium provided phones from two vendors kyocera and motorola . the motorola 9500 phone is a design from the first commercial phase of iridium whereas the 9575 model is the current version of the handset and was released in 2011 . 20 until the release of the 9555 in 2008 the 9505a was the sole handset sold by the company a functionally identical clone of the motorola 9505 with some slightly different components . 21 in 2011 a highly durable iridium extreme 9575 phone was introduced with a built in gps emergency button and interface to advanced location based services . an accessory was also introduced at the same time called iridium axcesspoint which when connected to a 9555 or extreme phone creates a wi fi hotspot for smartphone email sms and web connections . 22 kyocera phone models ss 66k and sd 66k are no longer in production but still available in the second hand and surplus market . the ki g100 phone is a small 900 mhz gsm phone that fitted in a cradle model number sd 66k that included a large antenna and facilitated connection to the iridium network . 23 the ss 66k is a self contained phone but features a rather unusual ball antenna . all handsets can receive sms but only the 9505 9505a 9555 extreme and those based on the 9522 can send them . iridium extreme 9575 a jet water shock and dust resistant ip65 as well as gps enabled handset operating temperature 15 35 c launched in september 2011 . iridium 9555 a satellite handset with integrated speakerphone and hands free capability launched in late 2008 . usb data interface with a usb to rs 232 bridge chip . iridium 9505a large brick shaped satellite handset manufactured from 2002 to 2008 by the second corporate incarnation of iridium . externally almost identical to the original motorola 9505 . native rs 232 data interface with proprietary pinout adapter . motorola 9505 large brick shaped handset manufactured from 1999 to 2002 by the first corporate incarnation of iridium . native rs 232 data interface with proprietary pinout adapter . kyocera ss 66k manufactured in very small numbers by kyocera in 1998 1999 for the first iridium corporation very large handset . can occasionally be found for sale on ebay . the motorola 9500 phone with the antenna not extended the kyocera ki g100 gsm phone docked into the sd 66 iridium adapter iridium 9505 the iridium 9522a transceiver with an antenna and nal research dpl handset iridium 9555 us air force airmen inspecting an iridium phone in antarctica . pagers edit two pagers were made for the iridium network the motorola 9501 and kyocera sp 66k . 24 these are one way devices that could receive messages sent in the form of sms . other satellite phones edit several other iridium based telephones exist such as payphones 25 and equipment intended for installation on ships and aircraft . the dpl handset made by nal research combined with a 9522 transceiver is used for some of these products . this handset provides a user interface nearly identical to that of the 9505 series phones . 26 standalone transceiver units edit these can be used for data logging applications in remote areas now a common practical use for iridium s services . some types of buoys such as those used for the tsunami warning system use iridium satellites to communicate with their base . the remote device is programmed to call or send sbd short burst data see below messages to the base at specified intervals or it can be set to accept calls in order for it to offload its collected data . most of these units can be connected to a handset and used as a fixed telephone . the following transceivers have been released over the years iridium core 9523 similar to the 9522b a modular transceiver released in 2012 designed to be an embedded solution . iridium 9522b a transceiver released in late 2008 is smaller than the 9522a and has similar features . iridium 9522a based on the 9522 some variants have built in gps and autonomous reporting functions . supports sbd . motorola 9522 last motorola transceiver supports outgoing sms but no sbd . motorola 9520 original transceiver module does not support outgoing sms or sbd . designed for use in vehicles with accompanying handset 27 sbd modems edit these devices support only short burst data for m2m services and do not use a sim card . iridium 9601 supports only sbd several tracking devices and other products have been built around this modem . it was an iridium manufactured product designed as an oem module for integration into applications that only use the iridium short burst data service . short burst data applications are supported through an rs 232 interface . examples of these solutions include maritime vessel tracking or automatic vehicle tracking . 28 iridium 9602 smaller cheaper version of 9601 released in 2010 . 29 iridium 9603