“Investigators Believe USS Fitzgerald Crew Fought Flooding For An Hour Before Distress Call Reached Help” (U.S. Naval Institute News) contains an item related to some previous postings here:
In addition to the damage to the spaces, the collision knocked out Fitzgerald’s communications for the better part of an hour. At about the same time the crew was able to reactivate their backup Iridium satellite communications to radio for help,
This is the system that Bill Clinton-era Pentagon bureaucrats were unenthusiastic about using (they envisioned an official military contractor building them a more glorious one) and downright hostile to helping rescue from Motorola’s threats to de-orbit.
Iridium is apparently still useful, 18 years after going bankrupt.
The previous posts:
Thanks for the tip about Eccentric Oribits, fascinating book.
Concur, good tip, made even more enjoyable when I realized the author is also Joe Bob Briggs. He’s a renaissance man.
Not only is it still useful, but tomorrow SpaceX will use a new Falcon 9 rocket to launch a set of 10 Iridium NEXT satellite telephone stations.
John Bloom (aka joe bob briggs) wrote a book about the rescue of the iridium system. The new owners paid a pittance to Motorola, and then pled poverty and got Motorola to lend them the purchase price.