An artist's concept of the Iridium constellation. However, the continuation of limited Iridium service during this time will depend on whether the individual gateway companies, which are separate operating companies, remain open. Commercial service allowed subscribers to use a hand-held phone and pager for voice, messaging, fax and data transmissions from virtually anywhere in the world. Motorola and other Iridium investors have worked very hard to support Iridium LLC's efforts to reorganize and continue operating the business. Unfortunately, that has not happened.
Iridium is an example of a proven, pioneering technology.
Many of our finest people worked together worldwide to implement a global communications system that was, from a technology standpoint, an extraordinary achievement. Boeing Iridium began deploying its satellite fleet in May 1997. Over the following 12 months, nine Boeing Delta, three Russian Proton and three Chinese Long March rockets launched the full constellation of 72 primary and backup satellites. The final launch occurred last June 11, sending additional craft to replace ones that had malfunctioned. The Iridium constellation is divided into six groups of satellites circling 421 miles above Earth.