Were the Iridium/Globalstar satellites de-orbited? That would be such a shame: to have a true global wireless communications network deployed and to let it decay...
Thanks. That's great news. I heard something along the lines of de-orbiting them, but wasn't sure if that was avoided.
I also couldn't check Wikipedia at that moment ;-) Now I can.
With a 86.4° inclination, Iridium satellites should be above the horizon. Some data communication should then be possible (interestingly, the article says they weren't designed for that). Neither Globalstar nor Orbcomm appear to operate at those latitudes.
Anyway, it seems putting a clever human close to the equipment is a good idea.