Iridium Satellite Collision

An Iridium satellite collided with an abandoned Russian satellite over Siberia on Feb. 10, 2009.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/12/us.russia.satellite.crash/

Does anyone remember the Iridium debacle of 1998? It was a company that suckered billions of dollars from investors into building 77 satellites to form a network of communications grid world-wide. People thought they would be able to use telephone service everywhere, including at the North Pole and the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. As it turned out, they were able to build just 66 of them before going bankrupt.

All 500 of them would have perfect phone service, as long as they were willing to hold a bulky telephone to their ears.

At the time, I thought it was absurd that people would invest billions in something that so few people would need. Well, of course, shortly after the satellites were built, the company declared bankruptcy (Aug. 13, 1999). Though the system cost $6 billion to build, it was sold for a mere $25 million.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iridium_(satellite))

And now we find that the Department of Defense has a contract with this "private company" for $36 million per year to use the system. Wow. Whoever owns it now made a terrific investment!

Something sounds pretty fishy. We felt at the time that the Dept. of Defense or the CIA was suckering stupid rich people into financing one of their own projects, knowing that it would go into bankruptcy, so that they could buy it back for pennies on the dollar through a shell corporation.

This is an integral part of the US government's "Big Brother" spy operation to keep track of everyone on the planet.

Now they will have to make do with just 65 of those satellites. Perhaps this shows some of the fallout from the recent wars in the heavens.