Observe how the mighty may truly crash and burn

-- EDN, 4/13/2000

The Iridium global communicationssystem has fallen on hard times metaphorically—and may soon do so literally as well (see "Satellite-based telephones punch past reality's impediments" and "Reality check: Satellite-based telephones hit technical and cost bumps") Since Iridium LLC filed for bankruptcy protection in August 1999, no one has stepped forward to bail out the multibillion-dollar debt of the extremely sophisticated system. As a result, the company may have no choice but to shut down the system's ground stations while the 66 low-earth-orbit satellites (plus spares) burn up as they inevitably decay into the atmosphere. Iridium may try to manage the decay by directing groups of satellites to lower orbits and thus control their burn-up timings and possible debris-landing location. The story of the literal rise and fall of the Iridium system and the expectations versus the reality will be a business-school case study for many years. If only Iridium LLC could sell tickets to watch this manmade "meteor" shower that will result from what the company euphemistically calls "deorbiting" or get some advertising sponsorship or....

Iridium LLC, www.iridium.com.

—by Bill Schweber