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Rocketlab acquires Iridium
- everfrustrated 3mo agoRocketLab gains spectrum + profitable satellite company
- espadrine 3mo agoIridum gains 23 launches per year with 100% success rate in the past 12 months, a satellite manufacturing pipeline with 6 satellites produced and launched, and a cost-to-orbit of $25K/kg operational (with an in-development design targetting $4K/kg). They are late compared to SpaceX, to be sure: 150 launches per year, 2400 satellites manufactured per year, $3K/kg operational with F9, target $200/kg in development with Starship.
- panick21_ 3mo agoYou act as if 'launch' is a thing. All Rocket Lab launches ever combined don't even fill a single SpaceX rocket. Those are not the same thing. Lets see their reliability when they have a bigger rocket and if they can land reliably. Because their rocket will be quite expensive to build.
- schainks 3mo agoI think that’s the point of their niche right? They are already plenty reliable. Also let’s them do stuff like this: https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/victus-haze/ https://rocketlabcorp.com/updates/victus-haze/
- hgoel 3mo agoWe know from the graveyard of companies that reached orbit with their small rockets and ran out of funding before they got to be reliable, that reliably flying even a small rocket is pretty good.
- panick21_ 3mo agoI didn't say it wasn't good.
- kjs3 3mo agoGulfstreams don't actually 'fly' because Boeing built the 747. Sure.
- Symmetry 3mo agoThe spectrum is the big thing. If they wanted a revenue stream they could just buy bonds.
- NetMageSCW 3mo agoA profitable satellite company with a lot of debt and satellites that target the previous model of bespoke terminals when the market is moving to satellite service on regular phones.
- hobonation 3mo agoIridium terminals can be very power-efficient. Consumer ones are the size of a deck of cards and can last for days.
- Scoundreller 3mo agoI wonder how much of the power-efficiency is due to being much slower. Don’t need to blast and beam-steer if you can deal with poor SNR by taking your time to differentiate the 0s and 1s? Which is more power efficient per megabyte? (But I get it: sometimes a few bits is all you need)
- lxgr 3mo agoAll of it. You can't really get around physics. Iridium has historically targeted low-power, omnidirectional terminals (antennas can be larger at lower frequencies without requiring steering than at higher frequencies). They recently had some forays into steered, high-bandwidth antennas with their Certus line and their second-generation satellites that now allow native packet switching (the first gen was circuit-switched at 2.4 kbps only), but that brings you into the bandwidth-limited regime, and is honestly just a waste of scarce L-band spectrum and much better served by all the Ku- and Ka-band LEO competitors. It's going to be interesting to see if Rocketlab start also serving that market, like some of their main competitors already are.
- labcomputer 3mo ago> (antennas can be larger at lower frequencies without requiring steering than at higher frequencies). No. 1. Iridium uses frequencies fairly close to GPS (~1.6GHz). 2. Iridium uses cylindrically-polarized transmissions (like GPS), which enable compact omnidirectional helical antennas > They recently had some forays into steered, high-bandwidth antennas with their Certus line and their second-generation satellites that now allow native packet switching (the first gen was circuit-switched at 2.4 kbps only), but that brings you into the bandwidth-limited regime, This is AI slop? No, the point of using an electrically-steered beam antenna is that it improves SNR, so that you are not bandwidth limited.
- wongarsu 3mo agoAnd access to a customer base. A lot easier to sell them new services if they already have a big contract with you
- davidpapermill 3mo ago> Rocket Lab has secured commitments for a $3.6 billion bridge loan from Deutsche Bank and Wells Fargo to fund the cash portion of the acquisition. Given the timing, this seems like a risky move as they'll be issuing debt in mid-2027 to refinance the bridge, at a time the market could be saturated / corrected. https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/rocket-lab-buy-satellite-communications-firm-iridium-8-billion-deal-2026-06-29/ https://www.reuters.com/business/media-telecom/rocket-lab-bu...
- moralestapia 3mo agoCrazy. I didn't know you could acquire things worth 20x more than you.
- brookst 3mo agoLook at GameStop’s quixotic attempt to acquire eBay. Which is actually not impossible.
- moralestapia 3mo agoDid GameStop acquire eBay?
- sspiff 3mo agoThey are trying.
- ortusdux 3mo ago5x the market cap!
- zie 3mo agoIt's an interesting way to apply for the eBay CEO job for sure.
- iamacyborg 3mo agoSomeone's been reading Money Stuff.
- zie 3mo agoIt's hilarious reading! :)
- moralestapia 3mo agoSBF admitting crimes on an interview with him as Matt was dumbfounded was an historical moment. His coverage of the downfall of FTX was hilariously good as well. Wrt. to the infamous Excel sheet, he wrote something like "when you're trying to calculate this, Excel shouldn't give you back a number, it should warn you about going to prison", lmao.
- phildenhoff 3mo agoRocket lab used to be a New Zealand source of pride, having started there. From the press release, now it’s American. What happened?
- elzbardico 3mo agoCapital probably, market access. It is pretty hard to raise capital for high risk ventures like that everywhere in the world other than the US.
- ericmay 3mo agoNeeds access to American capital markets, contracts, governance structures, and jurisdiction (applicable law).
- ortusdux 3mo agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lab#United_States_move_(2013%E2%80%932020) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Lab#United_States_move_...
- MyelinatedT 3mo agoIt was always an American company. In order to launch rockets from countries in the US sphere of influence (even from NZ), companies must obtain an FAA license. Rocket technology itself is so intensely regulated by US export control laws that it’s practically impossible to develop an orbital launch vehicle without being a US- or Europe-registered company. It is a real shame. It also looks like a lot of engineering work is shifting away from NZ — Auckland seems to be focusing more on operations and space systems, and the launch stuff is moving to the US with Neutron.
- jackmott42 3mo agoWhy do people reply with this "it was always american" response? Do you feel like it is necessary to protect RocketLab or something? It was founded by a guy in new zealand with the first launch complex and first launches coming out of new zealand. to characterize that as "always american" is so silly it makes you seem like a non serious person. of course they would have had american resources and connections from the start.
- JanSolo 3mo agoI think they saw how SpaceX was using Starlink as launch lever to provide SpaceX a baseline of regular launches at bare-minimum cost. As RocketLab starts to scale up, being able guarantee a minimum number of launches is a significant hedge against the dips in the global satellite market. Also, RocketLab builds their own sats and can add the Iridium constellation replacements to their order book. It's a win-win. A smart move by Peter Beck and his team.
- myrmidon 3mo agoIf you can afford to outright buy a customer to secure future demand for your product, does that not imply that this customer is "too small" to matter all that much? Because you could've just used the capital you spent on acquiring him on riding out demand fluctuations instead?
- NetMageSCW 3mo agoWhat does Tesla have to do with Starlink or launch services?
- JanSolo 3mo agoDerp; I meant SpaceX.
- nonethewiser 3mo agoMight be one-in-the-same soon enough
- fastball 3mo agoSeems unlikely now that both are separate public companies. Creative accounting acquisitions are somewhat more difficult in that context.
- skissane 3mo agoAlternative take: if a SPCX-TSLA merger proposal is publicly announced, that will create market enthusiasm (quite possibly irrational) about “unlocking synergies” which will temporarily pump both stocks, thereby making Musk (and all the other insiders) richer, even if only temporarily. Plus, the two firms already cooperate heavily, and Musk wants them to cooperate more, but being two separate public companies adds a lot of legal friction to that cooperation (each board has to review and sign off on things independently) and legal risks (shareholder lawsuits alleging they are cooperating in ways contrary to shareholder interests) So I think, from Musk’s viewpoint, it is a very logical next step, which means it probably will happen sooner or later
- baggachipz 3mo agoThey also want to continue to use Tesla as the piggy bank to offset the (vast) losses by the other companies. Once the "dump" phase is finished on the SpaceX pump-and-dump, Tesla will swoop in and buy SpaceX (or vice versa) in some all-stock deal and arbitrarily value it at $2 trillion.
- wateralien 3mo ago“Rocket Lab” not “RocketLab”. Although I think the latter is better.
- Centigonal 3mo ago"Rocket Lab acquires Iridium" sounds like a notification out of Sid Meier's Alpha Centauri or Anno 2205.
- pelorat 3mo agoI like RocketLab. Looking forward to Neutron etc. But this is a bad investment, no other way to put it.
- Joel_Mckay 3mo agoUncertain what Iridium global RF band allocation holdings were worth. If it is still pole-to-pole global monolithic coverage, than hardware/legacy-protocols are of secondary interest. Modern SDR transceivers with proper RF beam-steering front-ends could retrofit the business while slowly phasing out legacy hardware. But I do agree, Iridium was too pricey for most consumer product markets, and there were several other satellite broadband services. Additionally, Starlink Direct to Cell (VoLTE) service now leverages global cellphone client infrastructure. It would be extremely foolish to compete with something proprietary. =3
- petesergeant 3mo ago> But this is a bad investment Brother, share with us a sentence or two of why you think so
- gangstead 3mo agoOne question I've tried to answer is: has Iridium ever made enough money to even pay back the cost to put the satellites up. Using Google for all these rough numbers the first constellation cost $5 billion before Iridium (the first company) went bankrupt. For the second generation constellation launched between 2017 and 2019 it says $3 billion (for sats and launch). Compared to $400 million cumulative net income for Iridium (the second company) since bankruptcy restructuring ended in 2009. So as a non-investor (I only have boring index funds, no individual stocks) it seems like Iridium is a bad investment because it's a company that has spent 21+ years to turn $8 billion into $400 million (depending on when you want to start counting). When Amazon bought Globalstar a couple months ago I had the same question and it's pretty much the same answer. For Globalstar there was basically 0 net income so the return on investment looked like it mostly came from spectrum gambling. Maybe that's the value for Iridium as well? Iridium does have some net income of around $100 million last year, but I don't know if RocketLab's vertical integration is going to be enough to flip the script. If RocketLab could have built and launched the Iridium Next constellation for $2 billion in 2017 would $100 million of net income 10 years later be a success?
- proee 3mo agoWe have a bright future full of endless "space-junk". As the price to orbit drops, people will inevitably send up more and more satellites that have questionable value. In 100 years will the sky at night just be a massive grid of dots moving across the sky? Who will create the first advertisement in space using satellites as pixels to create their company logo? Maybe they can add some color and animations for kicks. Edit: Another note on space junk is the effect on our atmosphere with all the "burning-up" of various materials. Apparently they don't just completely vaporize, but instead leave behind micro particles that float around for a long time. People are studying this and hopefully raising appropriate alarms (Making the case for wood satellites).
- s0rce 3mo agoThere is a legitimate concern with space junk hitting useful stuff or even manned spacecraft but I think space is big and the sky won't appear bright soon. Not all satellites are that reflective and they need to reflect the sun, they don't just glow visibly.
- deleted 3mo ago[deleted]
- TheJoeMan 3mo agoAt present, I don't believe there are industry standards / codes mandating minimization of reflectivity. My understanding is that SpaceX has engineered for this from their own internal requirements and "goodness of their hearts" (which may be related to avoidance of public pushback). As we anticipate a major scale-up of LEO in the future, it follows that "cost pressures" may (mal)incentivize players to skip this concern.
- ralfd 3mo ago> "goodness of their hearts" (which may be related to avoidance of public pushback) I hate this cynicism in everything. People didnt work there 10 years ago to be millionaires in a far away IPO, they worked there because they are Team Space.
- khurs 3mo agoGood to see the competition making moves, SpaceX's huge lead isn't ideal.
- Joel_Mckay 3mo agoStarlink Direct to Cell (VoLTE) service now leverages global cellphone client infrastructure. It would be extremely foolish to compete with something proprietary. =3
- ryandvm 3mo agoI dunno. I would be surprised if a 30 year old telecommunications network is going to be technically competitive with a SpaceX's LEO network that is still launching satellites as we speak. How much market is there for people that just want low speed connectivity from the middle of nowhere?
- ttul 3mo agoIt’s not about Iridium. It’s about Iridium’s customers and partnerships. RocketLab hopes to launch their own satellites presumably and then can sell significantly improved services to them, without having to build a customer base from scratch.
- denotes 3mo agoSailors may be a small and dwindling community, but this is our core use case. When you are sailing offshore you need to download weather predictions so that you can chart your course to catch favorable winds. My experience with Iridium is that you open a targeted set of ports for the modem to feed your phone via, and then you don't have to think about it again. 100+ nautical miles offshore and it just works.
- NetMageSCW 3mo agoT-Mobile has weather available off-grid now on existing phones?
- lxgr 3mo agoNot offshore though, as they only have domestic spectrum.
- levl289 3mo agoHow does starlink compare? Beginner sailor here, and I thought this was a solved problem, now.
- kilroy123 3mo agoYou realize they have a new network of satellites, right? It works much better than the old version with the 90s tech. A lot of remote IOT devices use Iridium, as well as the US government or DoD.
- gigatexal 3mo agoWho? is buying who? I guess good for them and for the folks who just got paid.
- seany 3mo agoDid they forget to read ecentric orbits first?
- BrandoElFollito 3mo agoAs an ex-Motorolan (1998-2008), I sometimes look at what remains of the big mighty company and there is not much. Here in Europe it is even less, at least in the US you see the umpires (or somebody else, not sure as I fo not know baseball) with their half-headsets with the Motorola logo. It is a shame, I liked this company very much.
- Scoundreller 3mo agoOur big Canadian oligopoly telecom sold their land mobile radio division to Motorola for some hundreds of millions of dollars, so I guess they still do stuff? https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/2026/03/27/bell-to-divest-land-mobile-radio-networks-business-to-motorola-for-675-million/ https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business/2026/03/27/bell-to-dive...
- panick21_ 3mo agoJust got a Motorola phone and I love it. 3.5mm audio jack and cheap.
- 0x59 3mo agoMy mobile is a Motorola as well!
- silisili 3mo agoNot a knock against your phone, but different company. Lenovo now owns and makes the cell phone line. Motorola Solutions, the successor of the original Motorola, does the headsets/radios and such.
- panick21_ 3mo agoI know, I still wanted to mention it.
- hyperbrainer 3mo agoOne of the best books I have read in recent years, somehow immensely relevant now: _Eccentric Orbits: The Iridium Story_ by John Bloom, that explores exactly what went wrong, the bankruptcy filing and so on. I wonder if you might find your experiences reflected there.
- reactordev 3mo agoThey can have it, Iridium is so slow.
- dreamcompiler 3mo agoI highly recommend the book Eccentric Orbits: The Iridium Story by John Bloom. The story of how Iridium came to be and how difficult it was to keep Motorola from literally destroying the whole constellation (which they had originally built!) is quite fascinating. Tidbit: Author is also the real-life person behind the comedic persona Joe Bob Briggs. If you ever lived in Texas you know that name. And yes the guy can write seriously good nonfiction.
- Slartie 3mo agoI second that recommendation. Hugely informative and entertaining book!
- nixosbestos 3mo agoGod I hate hate hate hate justified text. Just ridiculously stupid.
- ozmaverick72 3mo agoIsn't this a bit weird? Has Rocketlab launched payloads for Iridium ? Is Iridium adding to their constellation or are they just trying to make a few dollars out of their existing satellites by suppling messaging for things like Garmin SPOT etc. Iridium satellites aren't in LEO orbits - can Rocketlab satellites even deploy payloads to those orbits ? Maybe the newer bigger rocket they are working on can but i don't think the current Electron rocket can. I guess it only has to make sense to Wallstreet types ....
- kha1n3vol3 3mo agoSpaceX will acquire Rocketlab.
- eps 3mo agoSeeing how Beck operates, this is far removed from being a certainty.
- itsthecourier 3mo agoI have used iridium before, IIRC I paid 1 usd per KB, PER KILOBYTE (!!!), to track some stratospheric globes we launched in like 2014
- itsthecourier 3mo agoseems they charge almost usd2 per KB now. oh well.
- epsteingpt 3mo agoGood buy
- georgeecollins 3mo agoJust came here to mention that "Eccentric Orbits" the book about the creation of the Iridium system is an amazing book. It's a business heavy book so probably more interesting to people trying to start business or do deals, as opposed to space fans.
- ge96 3mo agoI listened to that audio book while riding a bike to work through woods/back roads was great
- 6d7770 3mo ago[flagged]
- nektro 3mo agosaw this title on the front page and thought it meant the element, not a company