{"id":524445,"date":"2026-06-29T16:59:09","date_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:59:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/524445\/"},"modified":"2026-06-29T16:59:09","modified_gmt":"2026-06-29T16:59:09","slug":"rocket-lab-is-buying-iridiums-satellite-network-for-8-billion-to-take-on-spacex","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/524445\/","title":{"rendered":"Rocket Lab is buying Iridium\u2019s satellite network for $8 billion to take on SpaceX"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rocket Lab, the space company best known for its small satellite launcher<\/a> Electron, has announced plans to acquire<\/a> Iridium Communications for $8 billion. The deal will combine Rocket Lab\u2019s launch services and spacecraft manufacturing with Iridium\u2019s satellite-based communications network, putting it in a better position to challenge SpaceX.<\/p>\n

Iridium offers communications services to over 2.5 million subscribers around the globe. Its users tap into Iridium\u2019s constellation of 66 low-Earth orbit satellites and L-band spectrum to maintain contact with people on ships, aircraft, and in other remote locations. Iridium partnered with SpaceX to launch its constellation of NEXT satellites<\/a> in 2019.<\/p>\n

In a video about the acquisition<\/a>, Rocket Lab CEO Sir Peter Beck says the deal will offer a \u201cshortcut\u201d for the company to build a satellite network. \u201cThey have highly valuable spectrum, which is very difficult to come by,\u201d Beck says. \u201cThey have millions of customers, and, of course, they\u2019re a trusted government provider.\u201d Beck adds that it\u2019s a \u201chighly profitable business\u201d and that the company is \u201cnot investing in hopes and dreams.\u201d The move mirrors SpaceX\u2019s Starlink push<\/a>, which is currently the company\u2019s only profitable business.<\/p>\n

Rocket Lab aims to build upon Iridium\u2019s network and help deploy its next generation of satellites, which will include direct-to-device services that the space company says \u201cwill grow into an important new capability for U.S. national security and emergency response.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rocket Lab, the space company best known for its small satellite launcher Electron, has announced plans to acquire…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":524446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[72,61,60,43,82,247,2306],"class_list":["post-524445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-business","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-science","tag-space","tag-spacex"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=524445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/524445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/524446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=524445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=524445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=524445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}