Fun Iridium trivia: it was originally designed to need 77 satellites, hence the name. By the time they deployed they’d figured out they’d only need 66, but for some reason didn’t change their name to Dysprosium.

the person you are responding to seems to have massively massively downplayed iridium then….

Globalstar's technology over everyone else. They've just been crude bent pipes up in the sky. They still are. C-3 is just a bunch of new radio repeaters.

Globalstar's original network was just CDMA over the bent pipe satellite link, their second-gen Duplex network (sold as Sat-Fi 2) was an attempt to go WCDMA, then Apple dangled a lot of cash at them to build out and drop the entire Sat-Fi 2 product, the entire WCDMA core, and go roll Apple's new toys out for them. I'm assuming C3 is going to be heavily LTE-based if it isn't already at this point.

(I had a Sat-Fi 2 device and it was an interesting and short-lived experience. I was also there for the weird interim 201x satellite failure era - I remember having to pull up the Optimal Satellite Availability Tool to go see exactly how many long ~2-10 minute windows I could make phone calls in with a GSP-1600.)

((Double-fun-fact: The GSP-1600 is still actively used on Globalstar today, and it's one of the only tri-mode phones that existed of the era. It was satellite via GSTAR, then had CDMA for local calling and AMPS for the sticks. I had my GSP-1600 activated on a Verizon MVNO for local calls, which was a blast to use.))

The NEXT satellites also do space based ADS-B and AIS tracking. They packed an impressive variety of side businesses into the current satellites.

This is giving me real Severance Perpetuity Wing vibes.

> How did they not become spacex/starlink

You need to go big first with the rockets.

If you have the rockets, everything else is easy later on. Collect millions from others to launch the satellites in the meantime.

Before Falcon came in and drove down launch costs significantly putting lots of satellites in low orbit you need to replace constantly was a bad way to design a satellite network. It still has some issues like the continuous ongoing cost where the traditional providers' satellites would last for many years before needing to be replaced.

I remember the Motorola Museum on the Schaumburg campus has an Iridium satellite hanging from the ceiling.

The entire museum was demolished a few years ago to make way for a Top Golf.

Bankruptcy doesn't mean that assets will be destroyed. Valuable assets (including satellites, brand etc.) will be sold off to new owners, and the proceeds go to the lenders.

Two types of bankruptcy in the U.S.: liquidation and reorganization. The latter lets a company reshuffle assets and debt and schedule new payment plans to continue to exist as a going concern. It often wipes out shareholders.

in the US corporate bankruptcy allows the company to restructure its debts.

case in point: the three largest airlines in the US have declared bankruptcy at some point: United, Delta, American

It does. That is until its acquisition by Rocket Lab completes in 2027.