Back in 1999, I was working with for Motorola and knew some people working on Iridium. When Iridium declared bankruptcy, there was serious talk about deorbiting

Back in 1999, I was working with for Motorola and knew some people working on Iridium. When Iridium declared bankruptcy, there was serious talk about deorbiting the entire constellation and smashing all the equipment in the test labs, as is the fashion in bankruptcy write-offs.[0] I managed to get someone to rescue a test phone from the lab for me. He could have gotten fired for it, but he gave me Accelerated Life Test Unit 1, a first gen handset[1]. It came with a battery, the little tripod for holding the phone when tethered to a laptop for blazing 2.4 kbps satellite data, but no simcard. It sits on a shelf at my parents' house. [0] https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/11/business/iridium-bankrupt-is-planning-a-fiery-ending-for-its-88-satellites.html https://www.nytimes.com/2000/04/11/business/iridium-bankrupt... [1] https://i.imgur.com/CQEhNEy.jpg https://i.imgur.com/CQEhNEy.jpg