spacetoday.net: Iridium replaces satellite lost in collision

Iridium replaces satellite lost in collision

Posted: Wed, Mar 11, 2009, 7:57 AM ET (1157 GMT)
Iridium satellite illustration (Iridium)

Iridium Satellite LLC announced Monday that it has replaced a satellite destroyed in a collision with a Russian satellite last month with an on-orbit spare. The destruction of the Iridium 33 satellite with the defunct Cosmos 2251 satellite on February 10 created a small gap in Iridium's constellation of low Earth orbit communications satellites. The company maneuvered one of several on-orbit spares into position to replace Iridium 33 and restore full service. The first debris objects created by the collision are expected to reenter the Earth's atmosphere and burn up later this week.