I think Ed's right. The main asset of that corporation is a constellation of operational satelites. They are valuable. If their owner goes bankrupt, ownership will change, but someone will continue to use that asset. But the problem for astronomers still exists. Sooner or later, every one of those satelites will reach the end of it's operational life and begin to tumble and create unpredicatable flares. And there's always at least one of them above the horizon. If I understand correctly, their orbits are high enough that they won't decay for a long time after that. We're really just discussing whether it will be a problem before year's end or ten years from now. Take care. ----- Original Message ----- From: Ed Troy <etroy@aeroconsult.com> To: <SeeSat-L@blackadder.lmsal.com> Sent: Saturday, August 07, 1999 4:07 PM Subject: : Re: Iridium Flares to End? > I would not worry about Iridium being abandoned. After all, it is already > bought and paid for. If they do go bankrupt, someone else will just buy the > assets for pennies on the dollar and have a goldmine. The main reason > Iridium is not working is that it is way too expensive, at more than > $5/minute. Once they get the price down to a buck a minute, or so, it will > take off, especially when they can sell the radios for well under $1000. > Early radios, as I understand, were something like $5K or more. Again, not > many people are willing to pay the price. But, the radios have come down to > about $1K now, and will get much cheaper as volume increases, and if > someone buys the assets for a few cents on the dollar, they will be able to > operate for reasonable, attractive rates. Thus, Iridium will survive, but > it will probably be held by other people. > > Ed >