铱星公司1997～1999年共发射88颗卫星(2颗失败),耗资50亿美元建立了一种新型通讯网络,可以使有专门手机的用户实现全球通讯。然而到1999年底,该公司宣布破产,并打算让卫星降低轨道在大气中烧掉。 这一消息令铱星观测者大为失望,但对射电天文学家却是一件好事,因为铱卫星妨碍和干扰星际介质和测定恒星大气羟基(OH)的射电 Iridium satellite launched a total of 88 satellites (2 failed) from 1997 to 1999 and spent a total of 5 billion U.S. dollars to establish a new type of communication network that enables global users of specialized mobile phones to communicate globally. By the end of 1999, however, the company declared bankruptcy and intended to reduce the orbit of satellites in the atmosphere. The news has greatly disappointed Iridium observers, but it is a good thing for radio astronomers because Iridium satellites interfere with and interfere with the interstellar medium and determine the radioactivity of stars’ atmospheric hydroxyls (OH)