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Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

spaceinafrica.com

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Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

#161

Post by elric »

Ray20 wrote: post #158
elric wrote: post #150

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can we maybe not shit on this parade? The number of non-disgusting governments world in space-capable nations currently sits at zero. It doesn't detract from this achievement, and people are right to celebrate it.

>The number of non-disgusting governments world in space-capable nations currently sits at zero. You are now trivializing institutionalized mass oppression. We're talking about a country where HALF THE POPULATION IS STARVING RIGHT NOW.

I think you might be trivialising the scale on which space-capable nations are causing suffering. But that's not the point. The point is that this is neither the time nor place for party pooping.

Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

#163

Post by scrappyjoe »

api wrote: post #159
scrappyjoe wrote: post #104

So many strong opinions here from commenters who aren’t actually from Botswana. Let me tell you how we actually feel about it here. We think it’s awesome! The establishment of a university of science and technology in Botswana has been a long hard road, and many mistakes have been made along the way. But the fact that Botswana now has the local skill to deploy a satellite and make use of the data it provides to infor…

Do you see signs of Africa undergoing the developmental transformation we’ve seen in past decades in places like China and Vietnam? I’ve been expecting it for a while.

Well, scoped to just Botswana, when my dad was 10, in the 60's, we had just 15km of tar road in the whole country.

In the 80's when we moved to the village I grew up in, we didn't have a phone - we had a telegraph address.

In the 90's, to get fresh fruit and cheese, we would drive for 3 hours across sand roads to another country to shop at a supermarket.

In 1998 my village got its first chain restaurant and it was a big deal.

In 2009 I tried to modernise the family business by getting our managers to use email and very few of them could navigate the internet. In 2012, my family's vegetable farming plot was one of many that were claimed by the government to start the BIUST and I couldn't fathom how they would staff it.

And in 2025, the BIUST launched a satellite.

Lots of problems, but certainly progress.

Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

#164

Post by AdamN »

elric wrote: post #152
mbreese wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think of it as second mover advantage. The US basically has the first system that worked. And in terms of the expectations of the 1960s, it works really well. But, because it works “good enough” there is very little incentive to make it work better… or to the level of “better” in 21st century terms. And because we’ve lived with this system for so long, all of the fees and charges have largely been internalized, so…

The first system that worked? I have no idea what you're talking about. Whatever system US banks have, they weren't first, and it barely works. I mean Credit Cards are mostly an American invention, sure. But you've been lagging behind on chip&pin and contactleas payments for decades. Even something as simple as a secure bank transfer is a chore over there. I remember asking an American for their account number so I c…

That's what they were saying. America had the first credit cards and therefore had trouble moving to chip & pin partly because the existing system worked without it.

Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

#165

Post by scrappyjoe »

Ray20 wrote: post #147
scrappyjoe wrote: post #104

So many strong opinions here from commenters who aren’t actually from Botswana. Let me tell you how we actually feel about it here. We think it’s awesome! The establishment of a university of science and technology in Botswana has been a long hard road, and many mistakes have been made along the way. But the fact that Botswana now has the local skill to deploy a satellite and make use of the data it provides to infor…

>Let me tell you how we actually feel about it here. Can we have the opinion not from some privileged elites, but of the oppressed majority, who are literally starving to involuntarily under threat of execution finance all this support projects for this disgusting government?

You have no idea what you are talking about.

Until the mid 2000s, if you good good enough grades at _any_ high school in the country, the government would foot the entire bill (tuition, board, stipend) to send you to a foreign university for the entirety of your degree. The only requirement was that you returned to Botswana to work back your tuition cost. Probably hundreds of thousands (and that's a lot in a country of 2 million people) of people benefited from this program.

Is it perfect? No. Do citizens have the same opportunities as an average person from an OECD country? Not even close. But you have to appreciate the incredibly low base Botswana started from, and how the government has spent the entirety of its existence ploughing resources into improving the human capital of its citizens.

Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

#167

Post by blackoil »

sokols wrote: post #135
scrappyjoe wrote: post #104

So many strong opinions here from commenters who aren’t actually from Botswana. Let me tell you how we actually feel about it here. We think it’s awesome! The establishment of a university of science and technology in Botswana has been a long hard road, and many mistakes have been made along the way. But the fact that Botswana now has the local skill to deploy a satellite and make use of the data it provides to infor…

Congratulations on the successful launch! > .. I’d listen to the Voice of America.. I grew up listening to VoA as a kid as well, I was born in a then not so developed part of the Balkans. Sometimes I have the feeling that the ordinary Americans don't have a clue about the impact VoA had in the countries like ours.

My father/grandfather were avid fans of international broadcasts. VoA, Radio Nippon, Deutsche Weller, BBC. By our childhood, TV came with 2 channels and in adolescence 60. My son has access to YouTube, Netflix...

Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

#168

Post by DeathArrow »

scrappyjoe wrote: post #104

So many strong opinions here from commenters who aren’t actually from Botswana. Let me tell you how we actually feel about it here. We think it’s awesome! The establishment of a university of science and technology in Botswana has been a long hard road, and many mistakes have been made along the way. But the fact that Botswana now has the local skill to deploy a satellite and make use of the data it provides to infor…

>But the fact that Botswana now has the local skill to deploy a satellite

Congrats, but the article says that the satellite is being deployed by SpaceX.

Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

#169

Post by StefanBatory »

sokols wrote: post #135
scrappyjoe wrote: post #104

So many strong opinions here from commenters who aren’t actually from Botswana. Let me tell you how we actually feel about it here. We think it’s awesome! The establishment of a university of science and technology in Botswana has been a long hard road, and many mistakes have been made along the way. But the fact that Botswana now has the local skill to deploy a satellite and make use of the data it provides to infor…

Congratulations on the successful launch! > .. I’d listen to the Voice of America.. I grew up listening to VoA as a kid as well, I was born in a then not so developed part of the Balkans. Sometimes I have the feeling that the ordinary Americans don't have a clue about the impact VoA had in the countries like ours.

I am Polish; I didn't grew up during period of Communist occupation, but I've certainly heard of stories of people risking their wellbeing via trying to listen to VoA. It was very much a big crime.

Re: Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

#170

Post by Dracophoenix »

sokols wrote: post #135
scrappyjoe wrote: post #104

So many strong opinions here from commenters who aren’t actually from Botswana. Let me tell you how we actually feel about it here. We think it’s awesome! The establishment of a university of science and technology in Botswana has been a long hard road, and many mistakes have been made along the way. But the fact that Botswana now has the local skill to deploy a satellite and make use of the data it provides to infor…

Congratulations on the successful launch! > .. I’d listen to the Voice of America.. I grew up listening to VoA as a kid as well, I was born in a then not so developed part of the Balkans. Sometimes I have the feeling that the ordinary Americans don't have a clue about the impact VoA had in the countries like ours.

> Sometimes I have the feeling that the ordinary Americans don't have a clue about the impact VoA had in the countries like ours.

It's not a feeling. They don't know because domestic broadcasts of VoA were prohibited by federal law.

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