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NASDAQ:IRDM News 4 June 2025 - 12 September 2025

Cosmic Show This Weekend: Rare Meteors, Planet Parade & More (Sept 12–13, 2025)

Cosmic Show This Weekend: Rare Meteors, Planet Parade & More (Sept 12–13, 2025)

A “Sweet Spot” for Stargazers in Mid-September “We’re in a stargazer’s sweet spot,” writes Mark Laurin, an astronomy guide known as “Astro Mark.” “The September sky is full of magic… the night air is still comfortable but with a mere hint of wispy chill” aspentimes.com. Indeed, the nights of September 12–13, 2025 promise a cornucopia of celestial sights. From rare meteors and bright planets to ghostly auroras and satellite flybys, there’s plenty to delight skywatchers worldwide during this period. The following is an up-to-date guide to all the notable sky events and phenomena you can observe on these dates, with
12 September 2025
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Global Satellite Phone Showdown: Iridium 9555 vs. Extreme 9575 vs. Extreme PTT – Which One Reigns Supreme?

Global Satellite Phone Showdown: Iridium 9555 vs. Extreme 9575 vs. Extreme PTT – Which One Reigns Supreme?

The Iridium 9555 launched in 2008, the Iridium Extreme 9575 in 2011, and the Iridium Extreme PTT edition in 2015. The 9555 has no official IP rating, while the Extreme 9575 and Extreme PTT both have MIL-STD-810F and IP65 ratings. The 9575 adds built-in GPS and a one-touch SOS button, unlike the 9555 which lacks GPS. The Extreme PTT edition adds push-to-talk group communication with up to 15 talkgroups stored on a single device. On the Extreme PTT, Phone mode delivers up to 6.5 hours of talk and 54 hours standby, while PTT mode provides up to 5 hours of
20 August 2025
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Satellite Phones: Comprehensive Global FAQ

Iridium 9575 vs Iridium 9555 vs Thuraya XT Lite Comparison. You Won’t Believe Which Satellite Phone Dominates in 2025

Iridium 9575 Extreme, launched in 2011, is Iridium’s rugged flagship with MIL-STD-810F shock/vibration and IP65 protection plus built-in GPS and a one-touch SOS button. The 9575 measures about 14 × 6 × 2.7 cm and weighs roughly 247 g, and is described as smaller and lighter than the Iridium 9555. Battery life for the 9575 is about 4 hours of talk time and 30 hours of standby, with an extended battery option pushing talk time toward 6 hours. The 9575 offers global pole-to-pole coverage via Iridium’s 66-satellite LEO constellation and supports walk-and-talk with an omnidirectional antenna. Iridium 9555, launched in
8 August 2025
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Cosmic Light Show Alert: Meteors, Auroras & Planetary Surprises Dazzle Aug 3–4, 2025

Cosmic Light Show Alert: Meteors, Auroras & Planetary Surprises Dazzle Aug 3–4, 2025

On Aug 3–4, 2025, the Perseid meteor shower is active with after-midnight rates of about a dozen meteors per hour under dark skies, though the peak on Aug 12–13 could reach about 100 meteors per hour in ideal conditions. The Southern Delta Aquariids, peaked July 29–30 and active until Aug 12, produce about 25 meteors per hour at best, with observers in the Southern Hemisphere seeing them best. The Alpha Capricornids are active until Aug 12, typically yielding up to 5 meteors per hour but famed for slow, bright fireballs. NOAA forecasters expect quiet to unsettled geomagnetic conditions Aug 3,
3 August 2025
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Smartphones vs. Satellite Phones: Are Off-Grid Cell Phones Killing the Satellite Phone?

Smartphones vs. Satellite Phones: Are Off-Grid Cell Phones Killing the Satellite Phone?

Apple launched Emergency SOS via satellite on the iPhone 14 series in late 2022 using Globalstar’s LEO network. Samsung Galaxy S25, launched in 2025, is the first commercially available phone to include Snapdragon Satellite for two-way messaging via Iridium’s LEO constellation, with Android 15 native support. Bullitt Group’s Bullitt Satellite Messenger rolled out in Q1 2023, enabling two-way SMS on the Motorola Defy 2 and CAT S75 via Skylo GEO satellites. Huawei Mate 60 Pro (2023) added two-way satellite texting and satellite voice calling via BeiDou’s Tiantong GEO network, requiring careful skyward pointing and delivering low bandwidth. By the end
22 July 2025
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Orbiting Eyes: How Space-Based ADS-B Is Revolutionizing Air Traffic Surveillance

Orbiting Eyes: How Space-Based ADS-B Is Revolutionizing Air Traffic Surveillance

Space-based ADS-B became operational in 2019 with Aireon using Iridium NEXT’s 66 low Earth orbit satellites at about 780 km, each carrying an ADS-B receiver listening at 1090 MHz and delivering data to ground stations with latency under 1.5 seconds and updates often in the 2–5 second range. Before 2019 only about 30% of the globe had ADS-B surveillance and roughly 70% of airspace lacked real-time coverage, whereas space-based ADS-B now provides global coverage including oceans and the poles. On March 27, 2019, NAV CANADA and NATS deployed space-based ADS-B in the North Atlantic, reducing lateral separation from about 40
26 June 2025
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Cosmic IoT Revolution: How Optimized Satellite Constellations Are Connecting Every Corner of Earth

Cosmic IoT Revolution: How Optimized Satellite Constellations Are Connecting Every Corner of Earth

Starlink has over 7,500 active LEO satellites as of 2025 at about 550 km altitude, with plans to up to 42,000, uses Ku/Ka bands and laser inter-satellite links, and is piloting Direct-to-Cell IoT connectivity with latency around 20–50 ms. OneWeb has approximately 600 active satellites out of 648 in its first-generation network in near-polar orbits at about 1,200 km, delivering ~70 ms latency and enterprise backhaul IoT capability, with global coverage achieved in early 2023 and a merger with Eutelsat. Iridium operates 66 active cross‑linked LEO satellites at around 780 km, uses Ka-band inter-satellite links, provides truly global 100% coverage,
25 June 2025
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Beyond Cell Coverage: The Ultimate 2025 Guide to Satellite Texting Services

Beyond Cell Coverage: The Ultimate 2025 Guide to Satellite Texting Services

In late 2022, Apple launched Emergency SOS via satellite on the iPhone 14 series, enabling two-way emergency texting via Globalstar satellites. As of iOS 17 and later, iPhone 14/15 users in supported regions can share their location and send basic non-emergency texts via satellite, with two years of free service after activation before a paid plan. Garmin’s inReach Mini 2 provides global two-way texting via the Iridium network, with plans from about $15/month to $65/month and devices typically priced around $350–$450. ZOLEO uses the Iridium network for global messaging, costs about $200 for the device, offers plans from roughly $20
20 June 2025
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Space Junk Gold Rush: Inside the 2025–2032 Race to Clean Up Earth’s Orbit and Cash In on Sustainability

Space Junk Gold Rush: Inside the 2025–2032 Race to Clean Up Earth’s Orbit and Cash In on Sustainability

Over 32,000 debris objects are regularly tracked, with an estimated 130+ million fragments too small to track, and a 1-centimeter piece can disable a satellite. The International Space Station has performed nearly 40 evasive maneuvers to dodge debris. Kessler Syndrome describes a self-sustaining cascade of collisions that could render portions of orbit unusable. In 2007, China’s anti-satellite test created over 3,000 trackable fragments, and in 2009 a collision between a U.S. Iridium satellite and a dead Russian Kosmos satellite generated another large debris field. There are over 9,000 active satellites in orbit as of 2023, with forecasts of 20,000 to
19 June 2025
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Mega-Constellations Exposed: How Swarms of Tiny Satellites Are Taking Over Low Earth Orbit

Mega-Constellations Exposed: How Swarms of Tiny Satellites Are Taking Over Low Earth Orbit

By 2024, small satellites accounted for over 95% of all satellites launched annually. SpaceX’s Starlink operates the world’s largest constellation with over 7,000 active satellites in orbit as of late 2024. Starlink’s initial shell consisted of about 4,400 satellites at roughly 550 km altitude and 53° inclination, with FCC approval for about 12,000 satellites and potential expansion to 42,000. Iridium uses 86.4° near-polar orbits in six planes at ~780 km to achieve global coverage including polar regions. OneWeb’s Gen1 network aimed for ~1,200 km orbit with ~86–87° inclination and had deployed 618 satellites by March 2023, before merging with Eutelsat
5 June 2025
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Military Satellite Services: Complete Guide to Secure Communications

Military Satellite Services: Complete Guide to Secure Communications

The United States operates the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) constellation, delivering jam-resistant, global, protected military communications including nuclear command and control links. Navstar GPS is a 31-satellite global navigation system that provides precise positioning, navigation, and timing to guide munitions such as JDAM and to synchronize encrypted networks. Defense Support Program (DSP) and the Space-Based Infrared System (SBIRS) form the U.S. early-warning constellation that uses infrared sensors to detect missile launches worldwide. U.S. Keyhole KH-11 optical reconnaissance satellites (and successors) provide high-resolution imagery from space. Russia operates the Liana ELINT constellation, including Lotos-S1 in low orbit and Pion-NKS in
4 June 2025
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Aviation Satellite Services: Benefits, Providers, and New Technologies

Aviation Satellite Services: Benefits, Providers, and New Technologies

By late 2022, more than 10,000 aircraft worldwide were equipped with in-flight connectivity, and about 65% of airlines planned further IFC investments in the next few years. Aireon’s space-based ADS-B payloads on Iridium NEXT have been operational since 2019, enabling global real-time tracking and supporting ICAO’s 15-minute GADSS position reporting standard. COSPAS-SARSAT, a global satellite distress system, relays 406 MHz ELT signals from aircraft to ground stations to coordinate search and rescue and has saved thousands of lives. Global Navigation Satellite Systems—GPS (USA), GLONASS (Russia), Galileo (EU), BeiDou (China)—provide precise positioning, while SBAS like WAAS and EGNOS offer 1–2 meter
4 June 2025
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