Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
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Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
1–10 of 241 posts
Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
#2Don’t want to belittle the achievement but they launched it as in „had it launched by the commercial launch provider SpaceX“, not on a self-developed rocket as it sounds like on the first read.
Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
#3Don’t want to belittle the achievement but they launched it as in „had it launched by the commercial launch provider SpaceX“, not on a self-developed rocket as it sounds like on the first read.
Of course, even Europe cannot launch cheaply anymore. Arianespace is crawling to space; they are left for dead. The only serious players are the US and China. It's reached a point where it has become like trying to manufacture a state-of-the-art 5nm chip in a developing nation: possible, but at an absurd cost. You might achieve an initial parametric yield of only 10%, meaning only a tiny fraction of the chips coming off the line meet the basic electrical specifications. Even then, the functional yield (the percentage that actually performs the intended computation correctly at the target speed) might be even lower, say 5%. You'd be throwing away 95 out of every 100 chips, and the cost per usable die would be astronomical due to the sheer expense of acquiring and maintaining the lithography equipment, cleanroom facilities, and specialized expertise – resources that are heavily concentrated in a few leading nations and require years, if not decades, to build from scratch.
Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
#4Don’t want to belittle the achievement but they launched it as in „had it launched by the commercial launch provider SpaceX“, not on a self-developed rocket as it sounds like on the first read.
I mean basically everyone launches their first satellite using a third party launch provider which is usually SpaceX. If there's someone missing credit here it's Endurosat for providing the satellite bus and doing integration work, but the payload and operation which is the novel bit will be Botswanan. It's like you don't have to credit Linus Torvalds or Brendan Eich for their contributions to your first web service...
(Fun fact: not only does SpaceX not care about not getting credit for rideshares, they actively request you don't mention them in advance publicity)
Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
#5Don’t want to belittle the achievement but they launched it as in „had it launched by the commercial launch provider SpaceX“, not on a self-developed rocket as it sounds like on the first read.
I mean basically everyone launches their first satellite using a third party launch provider which is usually SpaceX. If there's someone missing credit here it's Endurosat for providing the satellite bus and doing integration work, but the payload and operation which is the novel bit will be Botswanan. It's like you don't have to credit Linus Torvalds or Brendan Eich for their contributions to your first web service.…
the word sovereign does not appear in this reply
Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
#6Don’t want to belittle the achievement but they launched it as in „had it launched by the commercial launch provider SpaceX“, not on a self-developed rocket as it sounds like on the first read.
Of course, even Europe cannot launch cheaply anymore. Arianespace is crawling to space; they are left for dead. The only serious players are the US and China. It's reached a point where it has become like trying to manufacture a state-of-the-art 5nm chip in a developing nation: possible, but at an absurd cost. You might achieve an initial parametric yield of only 10%, meaning only a tiny fraction of the chips coming…
What do you think about RFA?
Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
#7Don’t want to belittle the achievement but they launched it as in „had it launched by the commercial launch provider SpaceX“, not on a self-developed rocket as it sounds like on the first read.
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Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
#8[flagged]
Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
#9[flagged]
Rocket development seems more of a matter of capital than anything so it's hard to take this critique seriously. Good for them.
Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
#10Don’t want to belittle the achievement but they launched it as in „had it launched by the commercial launch provider SpaceX“, not on a self-developed rocket as it sounds like on the first read.
I mean basically everyone launches their first satellite using a third party launch provider which is usually SpaceX. If there's someone missing credit here it's Endurosat for providing the satellite bus and doing integration work, but the payload and operation which is the novel bit will be Botswanan. It's like you don't have to credit Linus Torvalds or Brendan Eich for their contributions to your first web service.…
My problem isn’t that they used a provider for the launch.
I just wanted to clarify because „X launches satellite“ sounds like X launched a rocket carrying a satellite, not that X made a satellite and had it launched by someone else.
Or maybe that’s just me, I’m not a native speaker.