{"product_id":"book-bx60","title":"Eccentric Orbits","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe incredible story of Iridium-the most complex satellite  system ever built, the cell phone of the future, and one of the largest  corporate bankruptcies in American history-and one man's desperate race  to save it.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn the early 1990s, Motorola, the legendary American technology  company, developed a revolutionary satellite system called Iridium that  promised to be its crowning achievement. Light years ahead of anything  previously put into space, and built on technology developed for Ronald  Reagan's \"Star Wars,\" Iridium's constellation of sixty-six satellites in polar  orbit meant that no matter where you were on Earth, at least one  satellite was always overhead, and you could call Tibet from Fiji  without a delay and without your call ever touching a wire.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIridium  the satellite system was a mind-boggling technical accomplishment,  surely the future of communication. The only problem was that Iridium  the company was a commercial disaster. Only months after launching  service, it was $11 billion in debt, burning through $100 million a  month, and crippled by baroque rate plans and agreements that forced  calls through Moscow, Beijing, Fucino, Italy, and elsewhere. Bankruptcy  was inevitable-the largest to that point in American history. And when  no real buyers seemed to materialize, it looked like Iridium would go  down as just a \"science experiment.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThat is, until Dan Colussy  got a wild idea. Colussy, a former head of Pan-Am now retired and  working on his golf game in Palm Beach, heard about Motorola's plans to  \"de-orbit\" the system and decided he would buy Iridium and somehow turn  around one of the biggest blunders in the history of business.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \u003ci\u003eEccentric Orbits\u003c\/i\u003e,  John Bloom masterfully traces the conception, development, and  launching of Iridium and Colussy's tireless efforts to stop it from  being destroyed, from meetings with his motley investor group, to the  Clinton White House, the Pentagon, and the hunt for customers in  special ops, shipping, aviation, mining, search and rescue-anyone who  would need a durable phone at the end of the Earth. Impeccably  researched and wonderfully told, \u003ci\u003eEccentric Orbits\u003c\/i\u003e is a  rollicking, unforgettable tale of technological achievement, business  failure, the military-industrial complex, and one of the greatest deals  of all time.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Blackstone Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Audiobook","offer_id":49301245854000,"sku":"BDbx60","price":24.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio CD","offer_id":49301245919536,"sku":"ZEbx60","price":44.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true},{"title":"Audio MP3-CD","offer_id":49301245952304,"sku":"ZMbx60","price":44.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0879\/2784\/9264\/files\/bx60-Square-cover.jpg?v=1775808075","url":"https:\/\/downpour.com\/products\/book-bx60","provider":"Downpour","version":"1.0","type":"link"}