The 13-tonne mission was initially lifted into a 350km-high orbit above Earth, with the expectation that the probe's big engine would fire twice - first, to raise that orbit, and, second, to set course for Mars.
But unlike Iridium's 66 low-orbit birds, Astrolink will cover the earth with only four high-orbit geostationary fliers.
The latest spacecraft was lifted by the Atlas into a 680km-high polar orbit.
The cost of launching satellites was high and whether they would make it into successful orbit was never a sure thing.
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Meanwhile, Sherwood sees the space tourism industry growing up around resort hotels in earth orbit, which would be initially marketed to high rollers able to spend a week in space.
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It's unlikely any aliens call Kepler-37b home: it's thought to be rocky, with no atmosphere, and hugs its sun in a 13-day orbit cycle, meaning surface temperature is terribly high.
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This is opening new opportunities for even high school students and hobbyists to launch satellites into low earth orbit and dream of going there themselves.
Today, this 50m-high rocket puts just over half of all the large telecommunications satellites in orbit each year.
However, aside from a lack of gravity, Logan says high radiation is the real hurdle for living and procreating in low earth orbit and beyond.
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Hei points out that there are four million births a year in the U.S. and Orbit Baby targets the top 10% of consumers who will pay a premium for high quality products.
Alongside the HTC-made handset are an altitude and orbit control system, two propulsion setups and a Linux-based computer with a "high-speed" processor.
Entrepreneurs may even find ways to recycle and reuse on orbit the nearly 2, 000 metric tons of space debris, which includes ultra-high grade aerospace aluminum and other precious metals.
With all three vehicles, Arianespace, the company that runs Kourou, will now be able to offer satellite operators a ride for any type of spacecraft to all kinds of orbit - from the low, pole-crossing orbits used by Earth observation missions, to the high, geostationary locations favoured by big telecommunications platforms.
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