Junkyard in the Sky?

Lately, many questions have been stirring about Iridium's future. But beyond the financial considerations, what will happen to all of those satellites up in space? Will they just continue to float around, eventually rusting and becoming a junkyard in the sky?

"I think it's anybody's guess," said Mack Jeffrey, senior director of public relations at Loral Space & Communications, Globalstar founding partner. "It's not a question of technically what happens to them. They're still going to physically stay up there."

It's possible that a current investor or a company with vision may find some use for them.

"I can't imagine that the satellite network that is up there operating and providing a service is going to be turned off -- somebody will buy it," said Betsy Kulick, a consultant on mobile satellite communications.

The question, then, is ... what exactly will they be used for? It may be a while before that question has an answer.

"It's like AM and FM," Jeffrey said. "They operate on a totally different architecture, and it would be utterly incompatible for anyone like Globalstar to use them."

Jeffrey added that there's not much question as to whether they can be brought back down and reused for something else. They're up there to stay, and he hopes that someone will be able to make use of them in a different application.