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WanderingEng  ·  2296 days ago  ·  link  ·    ·  parent  ·  post: Friday Fun Facts

The Iridium satellites were so named because initially they thought they'd need 77 satellites, and iridium has the atomic number 77. However, they were ultimately able to do it with 66 satellites. Dysprosium satellite cluster wouldn't have rolled off the tongue so easily.

I've used the Iridium satellites. My backcountry satellite tracker/communicator uses it.