Bethesda-based Iridium Satellite LLC plans to spend $2 billion to launch a new constellation of satellites, and local contractor Lockheed Martin of Bethesda is among those companies interested in winning the manufacturing contract.
Iridium currently owns and operates 66 satellites, which provide global coverage to its satellite phone customers.
The constellation of satellites is aging, however, and likely will begin to falter by 2014, said Matt Desch, Iridium’s chief executive officer.
Iridium plans to start launching the new satellites that year, and it would take about three years to get them all up in the sky, Desch said. The $2 billion plan could mean big business for, and tight competition between, satellite manufacturers eager to build the new network.
Dee Valleras, a spokeswoman for Lockheed’s Space Systems business unit, said the company is very interested in building the satellites, and is well-positioned because it built Iridium’s last fleet.
Competition likely would come from Boeing Co. of Chicago, Space Systems/Loral of Palo Alto, Calif., and several foreign manufacturers. Boeing spokesman Eric Warren declined to comment on whether the company would pursue the venture, but Arnold Friedman, senior vice president of marketing and sales at Space Systems/Loral, said via e-mail that Loral is interested in the contract.
Iridium plans to pay for the satellites using internal cash flow and will look for public and private equity partners for additional funding, Desch said. The company is also planning to generate additional cash with an initial public offering, though a date for the company’s first sale of stock has not been set,
The new constellation will use advanced technology that would allow Iridium to offer services such as Internet connections and text messaging to its satellite phone customers, Desch said. Iridium is also examining other possible applications using the constellation including augmentation of the Global Positioning System signal to make navigation more accurate and providing satellite imagery by adding imaging sensors to the satellites, Desch said.
