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The Iridium satellite system's growth assumptions ignored:
Phones didn't work indoors or in a car.
Even if phones were outdoors they didn't work without line of sight to the satellite (no blocking object)
Phones were very big, heavy and expensive.
The service was expensive
Phones didn't work indoors or in a car.
Even if phones were outdoors they didn't work without line of sight to the satellite (no blocking object)
Phones were very big, heavy and expensive.
The service was expensive
All broadband satellite constellations like SpaceX's Starlink, OneWeb and Amazon's Kuiper are dependent on the availability of affordable, electronically steered ground terminals that can operate at millimeter frequencies like Ka and Ku (not just low bandwidth store and forward).
If someone says: "We have that affordably electronically steered antenna now" the question to ask is: "Why isn't that affordable satellite Ka/Ku band affordable electronically steered antenna being used to communicate via a GEO on moving vehicles, ships and planes right now?"
The break-even point for Iridium was expected to be between 500k and 600k. They needed to add roughly 50,000 subscribers per month in 1999. By March 1999, Iridium only had only 10k subscribers.
Electronically steered terminal cost at high performance is key for broadband LEOS.
Electronically steered terminal cost at high performance is key for broadband LEOS.
