Photo courtesy of Iridium and National Geographic

Iridium has teamed up with the National Geographic Society in a new philanthropic venture. The two companies announced the partnership, Feb. 7. The venture will look to support National Geographic Explorers (Explorers) as the cover and bring information about the world to a global audience.

As part of this program, the National Geographic Society Exploration Technology Lab (Exploration Technology Lab) is now a specially recognized, value-added developer of Iridium Connected devices. The Exploration Technology Lab can now work directly with Iridium to develop solutions supporting personal satellite communications to support Explorer-led work. Iridium has also provided satellite phones, Iridium GO! devices, Iridium Certus weather-resilient broadband terminals and associated services for Explorers to use in the field. This enables Explorers to maintain connectivity throughout their field-based research and storytelling and helps them communicate from any remote location around the world.

“With shared-beliefs and a like-minded vision of how to help protect and tell the story of the wonders of our world, we are proud to support the very important work done by the National Geographic Society and its Explorers. We look forward to seeing the innovative applications of Iridium connectivity integrated into the Exploration Technology Lab’s latest creations and supporting their engineers with our own expertise,” Matt Desch, Iridium CEO, Matt Desch, said in a statement.