Your editorial “To Catch a Moving Train” [May 2, page 18] rightly called attention to the challenges faced by the U.S. Department of Defense and other government bodies when it comes to meeting deadlines for deploying hosted payloads on commercial satellites.
It seemed to imply that the deadlines for Iridium Next cannot be met, and the opportunity has been lost. Let me just say that the Iridium Next train has not yet left the station.
Iridium Next presents a totally unique opportunity for placement of hosted payloads on the only fully meshed network of 66 satellites in low Earth orbit with coverage over the entire globe, including the polar regions, which are largely invisible to geostationary satellites.
There will not be another opportunity like this for years to come. There is still time to climb aboard the train, but the window to buy tickets will be closing over the next 12 to 18 months and, fortunately, we’re talking with a lot of potential paying passengers.
Matt Desch
Chief Executive Officer, Iridium
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