Iridium secures second EMSS contract with US DoD…then signs MoU with OneWeb

by | Sep 17, 2019 | Military space, Seradata News

Iridium Communications Inc, a provider of Mobile Satellite Services via its Low Earth Orbit (LEO) communications satellite constellation, has signed a seven-year Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) contract with the US Department of Defense. The EMSS contract enables “unlimited” use of the Iridium mobile communications constellation – covering voice, data and broadcast services worldwide (pole-to-pole) – for over 125,000 mainly military users. The multi-year contract is worth US$738.5 million to Virginia-based Iridium, which will receive on average US$105 million per year for the contract’s duration.

This is, in effect, a renewal of a previous five-year EMSS contract signed between the parties in 2013, then worth US$400 million over the contract’s lifetime. The first agreement had been temporarily extended by five-months on several occasions before this final agreement was made.

In a separate development, Iridium signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with satellite operator OneWeb to work on a joint service offering for users. While OneWeb has no major military contracts, it does have a genuine broadband offering which Iridium lacks.

David Todd contributed to this story

About Seradata

Seradata produce the renowned Seradata database. Trusted by over 100 of the world’s leading Space organisations, Seradata is a fully queryable database used for market analysis, failure/risk assessment, spectrum analysis and space situational awareness (SSA).

For more information go to https://www.seradata.com/product/

Related Articles

Seven IRIDE SAR and optical satellites order goes to Thales Alenia Space

European space manufacturer Thales Alenia Space has been awarded a contract to build seven satellites for the Italian IRIDE constellation..  Read more

South Korean sub-orbital vehicle Hanbit-TLV completes first test flight from Brazil

South Korean company INNOSPACE has launched a sub-orbital rocket from the Alcântara Launch Center, Brazil. The mission took place at Read more

LMV3-2 launches 36 OneWeb satellites

Having lost its access to space via Soyuz rockets after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, OneWeb turned to other launch providers.  Read more

Starlink Group 5-5 is launched by Falcon 9

The Starlink Group 5-5 (56 satellites) was made by a Falcon 9v1.2FT Block 5 from Cape Canaveral, Floriday, USA, at Read more

Electron rocket launches Blacksky Global 19 and 21

At 0914 GMT on 24 March 2023, Rocket Lab successfully launched their Electron KS rocket (in reusable waterproofed trim to Read more

Russia launches Bars-M 4 electro-optical area surveillance satellite using Soyuz 2-1a

On 23 March 2023 at 0640 GMT a Soyuz 2-1a rocket successfully launched what is believed to be the Bars-M Read more

Relativity Space’s Terran 1 fails on maiden flight – but first stage works well

The maiden launch of the Terran 1 rocket built by Relativity Space suffered an ignition anomaly with its second stage Read more

China launches four meteorology satellites to LEO, part of Tianmu-1 fleet

At 0909 GMT on 22 March, a Kuaizhou-1A rocket built by CASIC affiliate ExPace Technology Corp carried four meteorological microsatellites Read more

Categories

Archives

Tags

nasaspacexecoreviewsissesaArianespacevideochina25virgin galacticfalcon 9ULARoscosmosDGAaviation weekaressoyuzIGTevaFalcon 9v1.2FT Block 5spacewalkBeidouawardsInternational Space StationspaceSatellite broadcastingBlue OriginrussiamoonStarlinkCargo Return VehicleresearchboeingmarsblogAirbus DSOneWebRocket LaborionISROimpacthyperbolamarsdelayjaxaspaceshiptwodemocratgoogle lunar prizerocketlunarhypertextobamaEutelsatlaunchVegatourismconstellationbarack obamafiguresSESnorthspaceflightnode 2fundedthales alenia spaceRaymond LygoIntelsat2009romeAtlas VExpress MD-2dassault aviationss2Elon MuskaviationLucy2008wk2Lockheed Martinukradiotestmissilesuborbitaldocking portexplorationsstlVirgin OrbitinternetChina Manned Space Engineeringsts-122Ariane 5 ECASLSmissile defensenewspapercotsgalileospace tourismflight2010Ariane 5Express AMU 1spaceportbuildspace stationaltairElectronshuttleProton Minternational astronautical congressNorthrop GrummanIntelsat 23Cosmosscaled compositesEuropean Space AgencyLauncherOnehanleybudgetrulesnew yorksoyuz 2-1aLong March 2D/2shenzhouAriane 6atvspace shuttleVietnamLong March 4CcongressMojaveboldenOrbital ATKiacGuiana Space Centercnesnew shepardLong March 2CUK Space AgencyksclawsSpace Systems/LoralprotonUS Air ForceILSInmarsatLong March 4BTalulah RileyApollodarpaeuSkylonAstriumlanderdragonbaseusaastronautpictureeventSSLfivelunar landerfalconSea LaunchWednesdayinterview50thSNCAprilVega CKuaizhou 1ASpace InsuranceTelesat7customeratlantisLong Marchlinksuccessorgriffin