Relativity Space, a small launch startup aiming to fly its orbital rocket from Cape Canaveral for the first time next year, announced Wednesday it has signed a contract with Iridium for up to six launches of the company’s spare communications satellites.
Since SpaceX has been launching Iridium's satellites, does this mean that they hacked off Iridium somehow, or that Relativity Space was cheaper, or that SpaceX couldn't launch them fast enough? Does anyone know why Iridium would NOT use SpaceX after using them for their previous launches?
[edit] Never mind, it's in the last paragraph. Iridium doesn't want to launch ten satellites at a time. They want to launch single replacements and spares.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/06/...r-iridium-announces-plans-for-vandenberg-pad/
Since SpaceX has been launching Iridium's satellites, does this mean that they hacked off Iridium somehow, or that Relativity Space was cheaper, or that SpaceX couldn't launch them fast enough? Does anyone know why Iridium would NOT use SpaceX after using them for their previous launches?
[edit] Never mind, it's in the last paragraph. Iridium doesn't want to launch ten satellites at a time. They want to launch single replacements and spares.
https://spaceflightnow.com/2020/06/...r-iridium-announces-plans-for-vandenberg-pad/