Elon Musk’s SpaceX Sends Ten More Iridium Satellites to Orbit

• March 30 2018
• Dana Hull

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. launched a rocket carrying 10 Iridium Communications Inc. satellites to orbit early Friday, its fifth in a series of eight launches contracted for the communications company as it builds its NEXT constellation network.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. launched a rocket carrying 10 Iridium Communications Inc. satellites to orbit early Friday, its fifth in a series of eight launches contracted for the communications company as it builds its NEXT constellation network.

The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Vandenberg Air Force Base on California’s central coast at around 7:13 a.m. local time. SpaceX has signed on to deliver 75 Iridium satellites to orbit in total.

“Iridium NEXT will replace the world’s largest commercial satellite network of low-Earth orbit satellites in what will be one of the largest ‘tech upgrades’ in history,” SpaceX said in a press kit. “The process of replacing the satellites one-by-one in a constellation of this size and scale has never been completed before.”

Friday’s launch used the same first-stage rocket from Iridium’s similar mission in October. SpaceX will not attempt to recover the rocket again for reuse, it said. It will attempt to recover part of the fairing, or nose cone, it said.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is targeting roughly 30 total missions this year, up from a record 18 in 2017. Another mission, known as CRS-14, is slated for Monday, during which SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will resupply the International Space Station as part of the company’s contract with NASA.