Iridium-4 switches to flight-proven Falcon 9, RTLS at

Vandenberg delayed
Iridium Communications – in the midst of launching their next generation
communications constellation – has formally signed an agreement with SpaceX to utilize
flight-proven Falcon 9 boosters on their upcoming Iridium NEXT-4 and -5 missions.
Iridium NEXT-4, scheduled to launch NET 22 December 2017 from SLC-4E, will be the
first flight-proven Falcon 9 mission from Vandenberg. The change in boosters now
negates the possibility of a Return To Launch Site landing of the Falcon 9 for the mission.

Iridium switches to flight-proven boosters:

Iridium Communications has formally announced plans to fly the company’s next 20
satellites (10 per mission) on flight-proven Falcon 9 boosters.

“Iridium has reached agreement with SpaceX to utilize flight-proven first stages for the
next two Iridium launches,” noted the company in a media release Thursday morning.
“Iridium conducted extensive due diligence work and is fully confident in the SpaceX
booster refurbishment program.”

The agreement signed with SpaceX only addresses the Iridium NEXT-4 and -5 missions,
which will loft the Iridium NEXT 31-40 and 41-50 satellites, respectively, and follows
comments from Iridium CEO Matt Desch that Iridium was not opposed to flying on
flight-proven Falcon 9 cores as long as the risk and insurance elements of that decision
were properly understood by Iridium.
“I believe that reusability is the future for satellite launches, and I think SpaceX has
intelligently built their Falcon 9 program around this strategy,” said Mr. Desch in today’s
announcement.

“With three successful flight-proven Falcon 9 launches already this year, we’re excited to
show leadership towards the sustainable access to space while also making sure we
maintain our cadence to complete the five remaining Iridium NEXT launches by the
middle of next year.”

Importantly for Iridium, and for the launch market as a whole, Iridium revealed in its
announcement that the cost of insuring the Iridium NEXT-4 and -5 missions did not
change with the switch to flight-proven boosters.

“Iridium confirmed with its insurers that there is no increase in premium for the launch
program as a result of the use of flight-proven Falcon 9 rockets, further supporting
Iridium’s conclusion that the risk profile is unchanged,” noted the release.
Overall, this is an excellent sign that the all-important insurance market element of
spaceflight continues to see no increased risk with launching atop flight-proven boosters.

1
In fact, Iridium’s statement that their insurance price did not change actually shows an
improvement from earlier this year.
In March, SES revealed that the insurance premium for SES-10, the first satellite to ride to
orbit on a flight-proven booster, “did not materially change” and was only hundredths of
a percent different than it would have been had SES-10 flown on a brand new Falcon 9.
Thus, Iridium NEXT-4 will move from a brand new Block 4 Falcon 9 booster to a Block 3
booster.

While the exact booster is not yet known, there is significant potential that Iridium NEXT-
4 will use the Iridium NEXT-2 booster, which would make Iridium the first company to
reuse the same booster for two of its missions.
Iridium NEXT-2 launched on 25 June 2017. Its first stage, core B1036, then successfully
executed a landing on the ASDS (Autonomous Spaceport Drone Ship) Just Read The
Instructions.
If core B1036 does indeed launch the Iridium NEXT-4 mission, it will be the second
Iridium-launching core to be reused this year.

The Iridium NEXT-1 core was reflown on the BulgariaSat mission in June – just two days
before the Iridium NEXT-2 mission launched.
The Iridium NEXT-1 booster – with BulgariaSat’s launch – became the first orbital class
booster to launch from both coasts of the United States.

Overall, Iridium NEXT-4 is – coincidentally – the fourth Falcon 9 mission of the year to
switch from a brand new core to a flight-proven booster: with SES-10, BulgariaSat, and
SES-11/Echostar-105 preceding it.
Given the flight’s targeted NET (No Earlier Than) 22 December 2017 launch date, Iridium
NEXT-4 might actually be the fifth, not fourth, flight-proven Falcon 9 mission in total.

Whether Iridium NEXT-4 is the fourth or fifth flight-proven mission will depend on the
final NASA management decision – expected no later than early-November – on CRS-13’s
potential use of a flight-proven core.
If NASA approves such use for CRS missions in time for CRS-13’s flow, it has been
confirmed by sources that the CRS-11 booster (B1035) will again be used to launch
Dragon to the ISS.

With Iridium NEXT-4 now confirmed on a flight-proven booster (and if CRS-13 joins the
flight-proven club), previously flown cores will likely end up representing a full 25% of
Falcon 9’s 20 targeted missions this year – an incredible accomplishment and continued
force for change within the launch industry considering that flight-proven missions only
began on 30 March.

Moreover, Iridium NEXT-4 will now be the first flight-proven Falcon 9 mission from
Vandenberg Air Force Base.

2
Unfortunately, the switch – while excitingly showing the continued migration of payload
customers to flight-proven hardware – now negates the ability of Iridium NEXT-4 to
debut Return To Launch Site (RTLS) landings at Vandenberg.While it was also confirmed
a Block 4 could have RTLS-ed, the switch to a flight-proven Block 3 will now delay the
first Vandenberg RTLS into 2018. Exactly which mission that will be is unknown at this
time.

Iridium NEXT-4 is targeted to launch NET 22 December 2017 at 17:26 PST (01:26 GMT on
23 December) – exactly 30 minutes after local sunset at Vandenberg.

IRIDIUM NEXT SPECS

Iridium Communications Inc. announced in June 2010 its comprehensive plan for
funding, building and deploying its next-generation satellite constellation, Iridium
NEXTto replace the original Iridium constellation. Specifically, the Company announced
the execution of a fixed price contract with Thales Alenia Space for the design and
construction of satellites for the Iridium NEXT constellation.
Iridium's fixed price contract with Thales Alenia Space provides for the construction of
the originally planned 72 operational satellites and in-orbit spares, plus an additional
nine ground spares, which provide greater risk mitigation with respect to the new
constellation. As a result of the expanded scope of the project, the total cost of Iridium
NEXT, including all costs associated with development, manufacture and launch of the
constellation, is now anticipated to be approximately $2.9 billion. In addition, Iridium
has entered into an Authorization to Proceed (ATP), which allows Thales Alenia Space to
commence work immediately on the development of satellites prior to completion of the
financing, with the plan to commence the launch of the first satellites during the first
quarter of 2015.
Each spacecraft employs an L-band phased array antenna for generation of the 48-beam,
4,700 km diameter cellular pattern on the Earth’s surface for communication with
subscribers/users. Ka-band links are also provided for communications with ground-
based gateways and for crosslinks with adjacent spacecraft in orbit. The cross-linked 66
satellite constellation forms a global network in space allowing communications from a
ground or airborne user from any location on Earth to virtually anywhere else on Earth.
Orbital Sciences Corporation performs assembly, integration and test of the 81 satellites
including primary and hosted payloads, shipment and launch integration services at
their Gilbert, Arizona, facility.
Iridium has contracted with SpaceX to launch the constellation on Falcon-9
v1.2 boosters. Ten satellites are on each launch and seven missions are planned.
Kosmotras has received a contract to provide supplemental launch services
on Dnepr launch vehicles. Dnepr can carry two satellites on each launch. One Dnepr
launch, carrying the first two satellites, was planned, but it was delayed and finally
cancelled due to bureaucratic hurdles.
Secondary Payloads

3
Each Iridium-NEXT satellites can provide an opportunity to fly an 50 kg secondary sensor
payload. 50 W average power is available for the payload. Data delivery and access to
hosted payload will be performed trough the Iridium infrastructure or private gateways.
Aireon LLC, a joint venture with between Iridium and Canada’s air traffic agency NAV
CANADA with support from the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and suppliers
Harris Corporation and ITT Exelis, will use space-qualified Automatic Dependent
Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) receivers built
into each of the 81 satellites in Iridium NEXT to
provide fully global and continuous space-based
monitoring and control of aircraft, even over
oceans and remote regions where it is not
currently possible. The payloads are based on
Harris Corporations's AppStar reconfigurable
platform.
58 satellites will carry an AIS (Automatic
Identification System) payload for exactEarth to
track maritime traffic. These exactView-RT
payloads allow for real-time ship tracking data
with revisit times of 1 minute. The payloads are based on Harris Corporations's AppStar
reconfigurable platform.