Iridium Communications Inc. [IRDM] has been awarded a U.S. Army research and development contract worth as much as $30 million to develop a payload to be hosted on small satellites that supports several navigation and positioning capabilities.
These supported capabilities include navigation systems, guidance and control for GPS and GPS-denied precision systems, the company said. The new Iridium payload will be hosted by another Low Earth Orbit (LEO) commercial satellite constellation, which the company did not name, to complement existing capabilities.
The Army said intends to develop Iridium’s payload to “support the concept of a rapidly deployable smallsat constellation to provide more effective sensor-to-soldier data transmission when in the field.”
This is one of the largest engineering contracts in Iridium’s history, the company said.
Contact: Jordan Hassin, Iridium, (703) 287-7421, Jordan.Hassin@Iridium.com, www.iridium.com.
