Satellite : Iridium satellite network back to full strength after collision

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Iridium satellite network back to full strength after collision

A spare craft fills in as Iridium seeks ways to avoid future mishaps

By Tim Greene , Network World , 03/09/2009



A backup satellite in the Iridium communication network has replaced the one knocked out in a collision with a dead Russian satellite last month. This should clear up intermittent delays caused by traffic being routed around the missing craft.
It took about three weeks for the company to prepare and maneuver into place the spare, which was already in orbit. The Iridium constellation consists of 66 satellites and originally had eight spares.
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The spares fly in lower orbit than the production network, and must be configured and moved into place when called into duty. The satellites orbit the Earth from pole to pole with some flying in one direction, some in the other. They communicate with satellites immediately in front and behind them and to either side that are flying in the same direction.
Scientists never definitively figured out what caused the two satellites to collide other than random crossing of their paths. A former Russian general claimed afterward that the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Agency was behind the destruction of the two satellites.
Iridium is urging that steps be taken to avoid such collisions. This includes improved space situational awareness capabilities on satellites to give better data on what craft and floating space junk may threaten others.
Better sharing of information between government space agencies and private satellite firms would improve the ability to predict collisions. This would include industry firms sharing their racking data with the Joint Space Operations Center rather than forcing the U.S. Air Force to separately track the commercial satellites.
This cooperation would also include sharing classified data to improve warnings and money to better assess data and issue warnings in time to avoid collisions.