Edhat Staff
Iridium Communications photo
The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch scheduled for Thursday from Vandenberg Air Force Base has been postponed due to satellite issues.
Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium Communications, tweeted on Tuesday they are having an issue with 1 of the 10 satellites in preparation for Iridium 5. “Our supplier and launch team is resetting for NET 3/31, with potential to shift into next week, if not resolved quickly. Launch success is priority #1!” he wrote.
The launch date has since been updated to Friday, March 30, at 7:14 a.m. from Vandenberg Air Force Base.
Iridium’s NEXT constellation will be joined by 10 more satellites on this rocket, which is aimed to replace the world’s largest commercial network of low-Earth orbit satellites. All previous launches taking place at Vandenberg Air Force Base.
“Iridium has invested $3 billion in the new-generation system, purchasing 81 satellites from an industrial partnership between Thales Alenia Space and Orbital ATK, eight Falcon 9 launches from SpaceX, and modernized ground terminals to allow the company’s more than 900,000 subscribers to connect to the network. The new satellites allow Iridium to debut voice and Internet capabilities, alongside the network’s previous telephone, messaging and tracking applications,” reports Space Flight Now.
