Complex sentence: The company, based in Bethesda, Maryland, US, derives its name from the chemical element iridium; the number of satellites projected in the early stages of planning was 77, the atomic number of iridium, evoking the metaphor of 77 electrons orbiting the nucleus.
Split into simpler sentences: The company, based in Bethesda, Maryland, derives its name from the chemical element iridium. The number of satellites projected in the early stages of planning was 77, the atomic number of iridium, evoking the metaphor of 77 electrons orbiting the nucleus.