[Satellite TODAY 02-04-11] Orbital Sciences entered into an agreement with Iridium Communications to reserve 20 percent of the hosted payload capacity on the operator’s Iridium Next satellite constellation, Iridium announced Feb. 3.
    Orbital will pay Iridium $10 million over the next 11 months to host third-party payloads on the constellation. Iridium said its capacity contract with Orbital has the potential to generate more than $100 million in revenues, including hosting fees and recurring data service fees once in orbit.
    “With this agreement, Orbital has locked-in capacity today to ensure certain missions can meet our commercial timelines,” Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a statement. “While Iridium is working with a number of potential hosted payload customers, and expects to announce additional deals in the coming 12 to18 months, it’s wonderful to have taken this significant first step.”

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