In article , Skywise wrote:

What about a spare Iridium? Are there not spares in the same
orbital plane, just at a slightly different altitude? I seem
to recall hearing of 'double flares' caused by an operational
sat and a spare following/preceding.

Brian

Good point! I guess they have to park the spares somewhere, would guess that
they use some logic to figure what sat is next to fail and keep a spare
nearby. Not sure if a spare is fully deployed, most likely is, so would also
be able to flare..

d.