Welcome to the Challenger Space Center

In 1987, a team of Valley engineers from Motorola conceived the idea of creating a global wireless communications system – a digital satellite phone and paging network that would later be called the Iridium system.

Motorola successfully launched 72 low-Earth orbit satellites in just 12 months and 12 days. At one point, Motorola launched 14 satellites from 3 different countries on 3 different launch vehicles in just 13 days. No other satellite program has even come close to this feat.

Each satellite weighs 1500 pounds and circles the Earth at 17,500 miles an hour at an altitude of 485 miles. One orbit takes about 100 minutes.

The 66 satellite Iridium constellation acts like cellular towers in a digital network in the sky. The hand-held Iridium phone sends radio signals to the nearest satellite, which routes the digital packets from satellite to satellite to their final destination. The dual-mode Iridium phone could also be used on terrestrial cellular systems making it the ultimate in communications devices.

©2003 Challenger Space Center • 21170 N 83rd Ave • Peoria, AZ 85382
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