Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space • Hacker News Board

Re: Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space

#71

Post by oefrha » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 5:00 PM UTC

yorwba wrote: post #69

oefrha wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> GDP per capita had a trend reversal in 2000, unlike the other metrics Two other less important and less immediate metrics. The “exception” easily outweigh them both.

I spent some time browsing the World Bank's data portal and found another metric that shows similar exceptional growth: number of pupils in primary education https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/SE.PRM.ENRL?locations=E... That one takes off in 1993, about a decade before GDP exploded. Maybe the secret to Ethiopia's growth is just that the population became educated enough to do something useful with the money investe…

Certainly could be.

Re: Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space

#72

Post by saschag » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 5:03 PM UTC

glad they got their priorities straight.

wtf.

Re: Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space

#73

Post by haditab » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 5:03 PM UTC

PedroBatista wrote: post #34

ajmurmann wrote: post #16

There is a dead comment by someone whose grandma kept donating to charity for Ethiopia. The grandma died poor save the poster is upset that nobody from Ethiopia ever thanked her and now they are prospering. I don't like that comment, but it is actually quite interesting, especially if taken together with another comment on a parallel discussion about the huge growth in Africa and the very visible Chinese influence. I…

It's the type of offer they can't refuse even if they wanted to. I get it, but this "help" has a tremendous cost, a cost many future generations of Ethiopians will pay dearly. While the "West" has been a mixed bag between good and bad, there's always been some kind of moral "checks and balances" and pressure from their voters. You get none of that with China.

What are the "moral checks and balances and pressure from the voters" in the west?

As a voter in the west I don't recall ever hearing candidates talk about Africa (although I haven't necessarily been looking out for it and may be a bit too young depending on when it happened).

Re: Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space

#74

Post by jtbayly » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 5:05 PM UTC

trianglem wrote: post #67

jtbayly wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but China benefits in several ways that temper this positive take. 1. by owning the (often insane) debt from the programs 2. by getting a lot of Chinese jobs in the country 3. by gaining influence over the country (at the expense of Western influence, if you see this as a competition. Another problem here, although it’s not a benefit to China, is that the quality of infrastructure built by China is often terribl…

Yes, China benefits tremendously. However the African countries reap some rewards too. It’s hard to take away infrastructure once it’s built short of starting a war. If the African countries can figure out how to maintain and add to all the new infrastructure, they may have the upper hand in the very long term.

Yes, unless it's useless infrastructure, like the Mattala International Airport in Sri Lanka. And to be clear, roads don't generally fall into that category. And also, China owns major roads in Indiana, and I'm not necessarily opposed to that happening anywhere. I'm just saying that there are reasons to temper the rhetoric that claims China is doing such an amazing job "helping" third world nations.

And as for starting a war, China doesn't need to threaten to start a war with a country in order to have the threat of such playing into Ethiopia's leadership decisions. You don't want to piss off China any more than you want to piss off the USA.

Re: Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space

#75

Post by corporate_shi11 » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 5:05 PM UTC

trianglem wrote: post #67

jtbayly wrote: post #64

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, but China benefits in several ways that temper this positive take. 1. by owning the (often insane) debt from the programs 2. by getting a lot of Chinese jobs in the country 3. by gaining influence over the country (at the expense of Western influence, if you see this as a competition. Another problem here, although it’s not a benefit to China, is that the quality of infrastructure built by China is often terribl…

Yes, China benefits tremendously. However the African countries reap some rewards too. It’s hard to take away infrastructure once it’s built short of starting a war. If the African countries can figure out how to maintain and add to all the new infrastructure, they may have the upper hand in the very long term.

Unfortunately, projects with very long term benefits that require political will to maintain are not sustainable in Democracies.

Re: Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space

#76

Post by pergadad » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 5:10 PM UTC

mirajshah wrote: post #51

chirau wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why do these countries need satellites anyway, what exactly are they using them for?

Not sure if you read the linked article: > The 70 kilogram remote sensing satellite is to be used for agricultural, climate, mining and environmental observations, allowing the Horn of Africa to collect data and improve its ability to plan for changing weather patterns for example.

I guess the real question is whether this is cheaper than to just license these services.

And a second question: how much power do others have over you? I'd your agricultural output or tax system becomes dependent on a certain provider/country they have a lot of leeway over you. Same reason Europe and Russia and China built their own satellite-based positioning system: can't trust the US to keep GPS accessible.

On the other hand any satellite built for you might have the same issue through some hidden software-based off switches.

Re: Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space

#77

Post by elil17 » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 5:10 PM UTC

chirau wrote: post #48

rburhum wrote: post #42

I am very familiar with the purchasing process of satellites by LATAM countries. Basically the Chinese or the French (i.e. Airbus) come in and offer you a satellite that ranges between 180M-380M USD in price depending on what you want. The price includes a building with a ground station, the launch, and some basic training. If you negotiate correctly, the full telemetry is send only to you and you process it all loca…

Why do these countries need satellites anyway, what exactly are they using them for?

Each satellite is launched into an orbit that has it fly over certain areas more than others. Most satellites are stationed over the richest countries, so there is very little satellite image coverage of many parts of Africa. These images help monitor everything from weather to crop health. Just like building a road, buying a satellite for your country provides critical infrastructure which can boost an economy.

Re: Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space

#78

Post by beambot » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 5:10 PM UTC

rburhum wrote: post #42

I am very familiar with the purchasing process of satellites by LATAM countries. Basically the Chinese or the French (i.e. Airbus) come in and offer you a satellite that ranges between 180M-380M USD in price depending on what you want. The price includes a building with a ground station, the launch, and some basic training. If you negotiate correctly, the full telemetry is send only to you and you process it all loca…

It seems like college students can design, build, & launch a microsat for $50k-$1M. Why jump straight to $200M+ for those learnings? It shouldn't take $Billions to start getting your feet wet.

Re: Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space

#79

Post by dwaltrip » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 5:13 PM UTC

trianglem wrote: post #65

Aaron_Putnam wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

GDP per capita is still at $767, which is representative of the majority of the population earning a subsistence living. Ethiopia has a population of 105 million, yet it has the gross scientific output of Latvia, a country of only 1.92 million: https://www.natureindex.com/country-outputs/generate/All/glo... What is growing is CO2 emissions, at 14.9 million tonnes. By contrast, Latvia emits only 8 million tonnes. On a…

A country with 50 times the population emits only twice as much CO2? This seems extremely good.

It's because they are much poorer.

Re: Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space

#80

Post by trianglem » Mon, Dec 23, 2019, 5:20 PM UTC

corporate_shi11 wrote: post #75

trianglem wrote: post #67

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, China benefits tremendously. However the African countries reap some rewards too. It’s hard to take away infrastructure once it’s built short of starting a war. If the African countries can figure out how to maintain and add to all the new infrastructure, they may have the upper hand in the very long term.

Unfortunately, projects with very long term benefits that require political will to maintain are not sustainable in Democracies.

Is this why countries with democracies in North America, Europe, East Asia, South East Asia and South Asia have see such decades long explosive growth?