AZCentral has a nice video of the ribbon cutting
Satnews Daily has a good article with details about the whole project.
And the Wall Street Journal has a more business look on the project in their article.
You can learn more about the Iridium NEXT project here
All of us tech-oriented people in Arizona should get excited about this major milestone. Although both Orbital Sciences and Iridium are headquartered in Virginia, both have extensive facilities here in Arizona. In fact the Iridium business operations is about one quarter of a mile from PADT’s Tempe office in the ASU Research Park. Satellite design, test, manufacturing and support are big business in the state of Arizona. Some of the other Arizona based companies involved in making or providing equipment for satellites are: ViaSat, Garmin, General Dynamics, Honeywell Aerospace, Lockheed Martin, Paragon Space Development, and many others. Most are PADT customers.
Congratulations to everyone involved and a big thanks to the people in the state, county, and city that help set up the Free Trade Zone that helped make it possible.