Each contact is made of platinum/iridium alloy and is 1.5 mm in length and 1.27 mm in diameter.
Radium has been replaced as a radioactive source in radiotherapy machines by safer materials such as cobalt and iridium.
They do not have access to the iridium sources needed for this equipment to work.
Iridium is gearing up for future mobile-based international communications.
Iridium is added mostly in platinum jewellery, and certainly in white gold jewellery, to give added strength to the claw mounting.
Iridium already has 60 of its 66 satellites up and on station.
Iridium-192 is also a strong gamma ray emitter.
Iridium-192 is commonly used as a gamma ray source in industrial radiography to locate flaws in metal components.
