Iridium ends legacy satellite service, switches all traffic to Next fleet

With its full second-generation constellation now in orbit, Iridium has transferred all its communications services off of its two-decade-old legacy fleet. “For the first time since the initial launch of the system over 20 years ago, zero traffic is going through the old satellites,” Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium, said Feb. 6 at the National Press Club here. The final two satellites in Iridium’s new fleet, called Iridium Next, entered service Feb. 5 at 2:15 p.m. Eastern, completing a refresh that began as the legacy fleet started to lose operational capability. More

(Source: SpaceNews - Feb 7)