In the final version Iridium had 70
low-orbit satellites up in the sky before they went
bankrupt.
On the 7th of December 2000, the US
Pentagon, largest corporate user of the Iridium communication satellites (2000 subscribers), has stepped in and offered
Iridium Satellite LLC a $72 million deal to keep the satellites up in the orbit for two years, provided Iridium supplies
unlimited airtime to the government, military and coast-guard users.
The satellites were originally going to be taken out of the orbit later on in
December 2000 by Motorola.
Iridium accepted the deal, and has agreed to provide unlimited airtime to more than 20000 government users, including
military, the
Secret Service,
Drug Enforcement Administration and other US federal agencies. After the initial two-year period the contract may be extended up to the year 2007, with the total funding going into
Iridium reaching $252 million.
According to a policy paper provided by
The Pentagon after the announcement of the deal, the de-orbiting of the satellites
"... (could have) created widespread anxiety and lead to a public outcry for ill-considered government action". The paper also expressed concern that there is no
federal regulatory policy on how to handle a mass de-orbiting of satellites, since it has
never happened before.
"Although neither the FCC nor the executive branch believed it had any basis for blocking the mass de-orbit, both were concerned about the 'regulatory vacuum' into which Motorola's proposed action fell," the paper said.
The Pentagon also expressed its needs for additional satellite telephone communications, citing the example of the terrorist attack on the
USS Cole in
Yemen earlier this year, when the power on the ship was knocked out by the explosion and the crew had to rely on
satellite phones.