Photo: Bill Ingalls · Public domain (US government)
Mission
Communications · LEO
Iridium provides global mobile telecommunications services using a constellation of 66 low earth orbit satellites in a 86.4° inclined orbit. Although 77 satellites were originally envisioned for the system and spawned the name based on the 77th element in the periodic table, the system has been…
What it put in orbit
| Object | Type | Orbit | Globe |
|---|---|---|---|
| IRIDIUM 8 1997-020A | Payload | re-entered 2017-11-24 | |
| IRIDIUM 7 1997-020B | Payload | 769 × 772 km · 86.4° | Globe |
| IRIDIUM 6 1997-020C | Payload | re-entered 2017-12-23 | |
| IRIDIUM 5 1997-020D | Payload | 501 × 638 km · 86.4° | Globe |
| IRIDIUM 4 1997-020E | Payload | 766 × 769 km · 86.4° | Globe |
| DELTA 2 R/B 1997-020F | Rocket body | 578 × 886 km · 86.9° | Globe |
COSPAR ID 1997-020. Orbits from the CelesTrak satellite catalogue (perigee × apogee, inclination).