EXCLUSIVE - Iridium CEO: "We Looked at 20 Different Payload Opportunities"

Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium.

[Satellite TODAY 04-26-13] Iridium’s hosted payload deal with Harris was a landmark for the company. It is also a crucial one for the satellite sector, which has seen a burst of hosted payload deals in recent months. Iridium CEO Matt Desch talks exclusively to SatelliteTODAY.com about the agreement and how he believes the company picked the right one with Harris.

SatelliteTODAY.com: Could you tell us about the significance of the deal with Harris? How did this deal come about?

Desch: This represents the fulfillment of our available hosted payload space, and we’re very happy to have used it to extend our relationship with Harris Corporation. As you know, we first announced Aireon LLC – a joint venture between Iridium and Nav Canada – back in June as a way to revolutionize the future of air traffic navigation. Between Aireon and our new partnership with Harris, we have now used all of the hosted payload capacity for the Iridium NEXT satellites and will continue to move forward with our design and build-out process for Iridium NEXT.

SatelliteTODAY.com: How difficult was it for Iridium to complete its vision for hosted payloads? Is there any further future hosted payload strategy now, or is it all about execution on the deal with Harris?

Desch: We’ve been working on our hosted payload program since 2007, and since that time we’ve looked at more than 20 different payload opportunities. After weighing a number of options, the government couldn’t respond quickly enough to take advantage of our unique opportunity and meet the deadlines associated with a commercial launch.

We decided to explore opportunities that we could manage ourselves, and Aireon made perfect sense for Iridium. We capitalized on the unique network architecture of our low-Earth orbit constellation to create a service that couldn’t be provided any other way. But our innovation didn’t stop there. We wanted to maximize the usage of the hosted payload space to enable other once-in-a-generation opportunities and applications.

Aireon didn’t use up the entire weight, power and data allocation we planned so there was still a bit of space remaining. We were pleasantly surprised when we selected Harris that their Aireon payload was actually a flexible platform, and they had a lot of customer relationship and technology that could enable them to “sell” that remaining capability.

Our agreement with Harris demonstrates the power that can be achieved by accommodating a network of hosted payloads on Iridium NEXT. This new agreement provides an opportunity for Harris to showcase how their reconfigurable payload platform can provide responsive on-orbit capabilities to customers as hosted payloads on very aggressive schedules.

SatelliteTODAY.com: AsiaSat/GeoMetWatch, Arabsat/EMC, Iridium/Harris; they have all announced of hosted payload deals this year. Does this surprise you? Do you expect more deals to be announced this year?

Desch: No, we aren’t surprised. In 2011, we founded the Hosted Payload Alliance (HPA) with seven other companies to increase the visibility of hosted payloads and we’ve seen a significant surge in interest since that time. We’re happy to see how successful the HPA has become at getting the industry together around the issues, especially those that have prevented the use of hosted government payloads on commercial satellites in the past. As the capabilities and benefits are better understood, we expect to see more and more deals like this in the future. Frankly, the hosted payload value proposition makes too much sense for the customer and for the satellite operator for it to be ignored.

SatelliteTODAY.com: There has always been a lot of talk about the U.S. military doing some kind of hosted payload deal? Do you expect this to happen?

Desch: Yes, the attention that hosted payloads have been getting from senior leaders within the Air Force and NASA shows an uptick in momentum for the U.S. military to secure a hosted payload deal.

Interest is growing, but there are still a number of challenges. For example, timelines between government procurement and commercial space procurement are still mismatched and there are a number of inherent cultural and systemic biases against hosted payloads within the U.S. Department of Defense that will make it difficult to put government missions on commercial satellites. There are no incentives yet to make it happen faster, so it may take a number of years to grow to significant levels, but it has to grow.

SatelliteTODAY.com: What the key learnings from the Harris deal? Are the hosting fees in line with your projections?

Desch: Pick a great technology partner with a flexible platform if you can. The hosting fees are right in line with our original projections, and a great deal for access to space I might add.

SatelliteTODAY.com: Finally, what are the major challenges for Iridium ahead of the launch of the NEXT constellation?

Desch: We have assembled a great team to build and launch our new satellite constellation. I am incredibly confident in my team and all of our partners that are supporting this project. With our hosted payload vision now complete, we are moving quickly towards the final design phases for Iridium NEXT and are excited to start bending metal in the coming months. It’s a huge program, but we’re on schedule and on budget for an early 2015 first launch.

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EXCLUSIVE – Iridium CEO: “We Looked at 20 Different Payload Opportunities”