In August 2000, Motorola announced that the Iridium satellites would have to be deorbited;[11] however, they remained in orbit and operational.[12][13] In December 2000, the US government stepped in to save Iridium by providing $72 million in exchange for a two-year contract and approving the fire-sale of the company from US bankruptcy court for $25 million,[11] in March 2001.