Iridium GO!Âź provides global voice calling and text messaging solutions for your smartphone, as well as enhanced data capabilities offered through optimized apps to meet your unique needs.
The Iridium GO!Âź app just got an upgrade. The rebranded app has a sleek look and feel that provides optimal view and reduced glare both day and night. No matter where you go, the same simple features and functionality include everything you need to know about the Iridium GO! in the palm of your hand.
The free app can be downloaded to your smartphone and will give you access to the unique services offered by your Iridium GO!. If you do not have an Iridium GO! but are considering buying one, you can download the new app for free to learn how simple it really is. Whether youâre a new or existing user, we break it down to show how easy it is to set up and use.
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Ready â Download the Iridium GO! app & prepare for your next off-the-grid adventure
Before using your Iridium GO! in a location without cellular service, you need to download the free app from the Apple App Store or Google Play on high-speed internet.
Read through the onboarding steps that explain how to use the device and best practices. These steps will remain available under âhelpâ if you need to revisit them later.
Sync your contacts and make sure that the phone numbers include the country code. In case of an emergency when off the grid, configure the programmable SOS button so that you are able to send an emergency message if needed.
Set â Set up the Iridium GO! device for use
Find an area with a clear view of the sky and the horizon, away from trees and buildings. Make sure the device can see as much of the sky as possible.
Flip up the antenna and wait for the Iridium GO! to fully power up (approximately 1 minute).
Turn your phone to airplane mode and connect to the Iridium Wi-Fi. Login to the Iridium GO! app with the default username and password guest.
Iridium GO! â Enjoy truly global connectivity on your smartphone
Bring your Iridium GO! with you for the freedom to connect to anyone from anywhere on your smartphone.
Call or text a friend, share your location, send tracking updates, or activate an emergency SOS if needed.
With the Iridium GO! you can use your smartphone anywhere on the planet! Now you can easily stay connected and in touch wherever you are, whenever you need, with the devices you rely on every day.
So, what are you waiting for? ReadyâŠ.SetâŠ.Iridium GO!
For more detailed information on the Iridium GO!, please visit www.iridiumgo.com.
President Kersti Kaljulaid signed digital legally binding documents from Antarctica using Iridium CertusÂź
On January 27, Her Excellency Kersti Kaljulaid, President of the Republic of Estonia set forth on a historic voyage, commemorating the 200-year anniversary of Antarcticaâs discovery by Estonian born Admiral Fabian Gottlieb von Bellingshausen. Until her return to Estonia on January 31st, President Kaljulaidâs efforts included managing state affairs in real-time from Antarctica and signing digital legally binding documents from the polar areas using the weather resilient Iridium Certus specialty satellite broadband service.
President Kaljulaidâs visit to the continent also focused on increasing awareness of the impacts of climate change and demonstrating the opportunities offered by embracing a digital society and eGovernance. As a leading digital economy, Estonia is driving cutting edge technology and changing the way people work. Under Estoniaâs eGovernance framework, Estonians and digital nomads can work anywhere in the world. To demonstrate the possibilities, Estonian President Kersti Kaljulaid literally moved her office to Antarctica for a week. Managing affairs of the State is already a monumental task but managing them from the frozen continent required extra ingenuity.
The President used an Iridium Certus terminal from Thales to stay connected and lead the country from one of the most remote areas on the planet. Highlighting this historic event is a post on twitter from President Kaljulaid while in Antarctica, explaining the value of the Estonian digital society.
Iridium CEO Matt Desch tweeted in response, âNot hard to see why Estonia is one of the leading digital communications societies when the President is casually doing state business from the bottom of the world. Guess you’re just out and about, keeping in touch with Iridium Certus technology? Pretty cool! (literally).â
The President compared both digital society and climate change as not recognizing national borders. She emphasized that the polar areas are particularly sensitive to changes in our climate, and that all the countries of the world must find solutions together.
âBeing a digital society means geography doesnât matter anymore â we can do business, run the country and communicate with our close ones wherever we are in the world,â she said. This historic visit proves that the world is more connected than ever, and Iridium is honored to play a role.
Image: President Kaljulaid digitally signing a resolution of bestowing state decorations using an Iridium Certus terminal by Thales. Credit: Government of Estonia
(Image: The first Iridium NEXT launch on January 14, 2017. Credit: Iridium)
One year ago today, Iridium declared victory and completed its $3 billion satellite constellation upgrade. It was a major achievement for Iridium, but the journey wasnât easy. Almost a decade of deliberations, development and hard work came down to eight adrenaline-inducing rocket launches that determined Iridiumâs fate. Had anything gone differently, the companyâs fortune could have changed.
The Iridium NEXT campaign was a technical, financial and commercial risk for the company. For any other business, success and failure is typically measured over a long period of time, and issues can be handled accordingly. With the Iridium NEXT campaign, after preparations were complete, there was a period of time when the outcome was out of the companyâs hands. When launching satellites, success or failure is at first measured in a roughly 9-minute window. Then for Iridium, add another 40 minutes to an hour for deployment and successful communication with the new satellites. The first launch was particularly traumatic. Would the satellites separate from their dispenser at the right time? Was all the development and testing enough to ensure the satellites would wake up in space and be fully functional? Could they call home?
Prior to the launches, Iridium had a comprehensive plan for funding, building and deploying its next-generation satellite constellation. This plan was no small feat. Iridium and its partners in the lending community all took extraordinary financial risks to get this project off the ground. In 2010, when the loan for the Iridium NEXT campaign was closed, Iridiumâs launch provider SpaceX was unproven, and there were no contracts even close to being in place for Iridiumâs hosted payloads, which it needed to help bring in new revenues. Iridium then doubled-down on itself and, finding some early customers and investors to partner with, developed the AireonSM service (through a joint venture) to provide space-based ADS-B for real-time, truly global surveillance of aircraft. With all of these financial risks taken, successfully executing the Iridium NEXT project was crucial.
As is typical with a project as complex as Iridium NEXT, everything did not go as planned. Manufacturing and launch delays caused the project to slip. The development of the satellites took longer than expected, and every detail from design criteria, to transportation of the satellites to the launch site was critical in determining success (Fun fact: There was an Iridium tracking device on the satellite shipping containers so that Iridium employees could track the satellites from the factory to the launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base). The company also factored in potential launch failures and supplemented its insurance strategy by contracting Thales Alenia to build 15 extra satellites in addition to the 66 needed for operation.
Image: Technicians work on an Iridium satellite. Credit: Iridium
Two years and eight successful launches later, Iridium completed the network refresh with a fully operational constellation. Using a âslot swapâ technique, the companyâs satellite operation team then safely replaced and responsibly deorbited the original operational Block 1 satellites. On February 5, 2019, the final slot swap took place, completing the upgraded constellation. The process was so seamlessly executed, not one customer even noticed it was happening during the entire network changeout.
So, whatâs next one year after Iridium NEXT? Iridium employees who went through the adrenaline-inducing development and deployment years experienced a short-lived elation hangover in the immediate aftermath. For more than a decade, the Iridium NEXT campaign was the companyâs biggest priority, and everyone involved went through a unique experience together. Now everyoneâs attention has shifted to bringing the new services and capabilities enabled by the new satellites to life. All of the time and energy spent on refurbishing the constellation is now focused on utilizing the network to support Iridium partners and customers.
Iridium CertusÂź, the world’s only truly global broadband service, was enabled by the new constellation and has now been providing service for over a year. The Aireon service, an Iridium hosted payload, is in operation making real-time truly global air traffic surveillance a reality. Â L3Harris Technologies and exactEarthâs Automatic Identification System (AIS) payload is monitoring ship movements in real time everywhere in the world. Iridium is also now formally authorized to provide Global Maritime Distress and Safety System (GMDSS) service, which to explain simply, provides the SOS button for a ship in distress at sea. In addition to these immediate successes, the company is now on a normalized operating path and able to cultivate its long term vision and strategy.
As Iridium CEO Matt Desch likens it, âIridiumâs been a beast that has needed a large amount of feeding to stay alive since its inception. Now, the beast is self-sufficient, and weâre growing our own food.â After 20 years, Iridiumâs destiny is now in its own hands. With the success of the Iridium NEXT campaign, the company has finally achieved financial maturity. Iridium recently refinanced its credit facility, and the financial transformation thatâs underway allows the company to plan for potential shareholder-friendly actions and a much easier financial path for the successor to Iridium NEXT. âThe financing of the successor network to Iridium NEXT around 2030 will be a layup compared to what was just accomplished,â says Tom Fitzpatrick, CFO at Iridium.
The gamble was big, but now the reward is bigger. Iridiumâs upgraded network is providing a high quality of service to its partners and customers everywhere on the globe. The company is incredibly thankful to the entire Iridium team, its prime satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space and their suppliers, its launch provider SpaceX and everyone that was cheering and rooting for the success of the largest tech upgrade in space history.