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Why Ghana Started a Space Program
- sremani 11y agoSpace Exploration can be debated, but launching Satellites, every country should be able to do it.
- nickff 11y agoWhy should every country be able to launch satellites? There are many countries which have no sea ports, yet they all need space ports?
- EliRivers 11y agoThose landlocked countries do need sea ports too. It's just a bit harder to do anything about that without invading your neighbours.
- jacobr1 11y agoNo - they need access to sea ports which can be done easily via trade. Likewise they need access to satellites which also can be accomplished through trade.
- EliRivers 11y agoHonestly, the spectrum around here. You knows what's better than having someone else's removable permission to use their sea ports at their convenience on their terms? Having your own sea ports.
- Ntrails 11y agoAlthough even better than that is to sell your sea ports to a corporation and then rent them back at fair value in order to improve the country's finances.
- sremani 11y agoShould have the ability to build satellites and if geography permits should be able to launch them
- nickff 11y agoApologies for being repetitive, but you didn't answer my question. Why does a country need to be able to build and/or launch satellites? I really can't see any reason for it. There are many countries with little or no shipbuilding and/or port capabilities. Switzerland has done very well without a sea port, and I cannot imagine why any country needs satellite capabilities (aside from nationalism).
- sremani 11y agoThe advantages of Earth observing satellites in the arena of - telecommunications - navigation & mapping - meteorology - agriculture, mining etc. things that are part of both defense and commerce. >>and I cannot imagine why any country needs satellite capabilities (aside from nationalism).<< GPS ?
- nickff 11y agoThere is a strong case for there being satellite and launch providers/provisioners; this does not mean that every country needs their own.
- Retric 11y agoThere are some tiny 'countries' out there. If you can see the surface area of your country from a blimp then launching a satellite seems wasteful ex: Monaco, Nauru. I am sure Liechtenstein could do GPS from blimps / drones cheaper that even microsatellites, but why build your own receiver when GPS is cheap and your to tiny to matter militarily.
- noselasd 11y agoYou can buy such services using existing satellites, or buy the designing, manufacturing and launching of such a satellite - there's no inherent need for everyone to do all the steps domestically.
- scrumper 11y agoI don't know about every country, but the article lists some important reasons for Ghana to have the capability, namely combatting illegal mining and assistance with disaster relief. At the moment Ghana is reliant on foreign satellites, which aren't necessarily available when needed.
- psykovsky 11y agoJust because you don't have sea ports doesn't mean you can't have boats under your flag.
- gozur88 11y agoEvery country should be able to build cars, too, but most of them don't because it doesn't make sense. It takes a whole lot of time and money to develop that kind of capability. And it makes other countries nervous. Anything that can be used to launch a satellite can be used as an ICBM.
- dharma1 11y agoGood for them. I think putting a cubesat to orbit is under $100k these days. Was thinking an EM railgun (either from ground or from a plane flying as high as it can) could probably put a nanosat type payload to orbit for much less. My guess is there will be a lot more satellites (and eventually debris) in orbit in the coming decades.
- lifeisstillgood 11y agoI like the railgin idea - is there any studies on this?
- lifeisstillgood 11y agoOk, downvotes. "are there any studies"?
- pkinsky 11y agoI think railguns are better at sending dumb payload masses, there's a fairly high amount of electricity pumped into the rails and IIRC the military ones have a sort of plasma muzzle flash effect. Cubesats tend to be lightweight and small, and probably wouldn't survive the launch.
- lifeisstillgood 11y agoAha - sounded too good to be true. I suppose it depends on how fast we accelerate them upto right speed So if we imagine a Nimrod style dish on top of an aircraft near space, and say orbital speed is 30Mach or about 21,000mph call it 30kph for ease, and minimum useful weight would be 500g we need to input ... 54MW? And control travel around a dish tighter than anything previously seen. Yeah - nice idea ...
- sandworm101 11y agoIt's a little more complicated. A railgun launch would see the payload moving at above orbital velocity immediately upon leaving the gun, creating serious aerodynamic headaches (drag). Rockets don't accelerate to such speeds until well above most of the atmosphere. For a tiny/lightweight object like a cubesat, the drag climbing up from the surface will be monumental. It's a trap. Drag requires more speed, which creates more drag. So you go with a heavier, more aerodynamically efficient object, which requires a larger railgun. The minimum size for this railgun is probably so large as to make the entire endeavor futile in comparison to rocketry. Artillery gets around this by firing relatively high. This wouldn't be practical for launch to orbit where you want as much momentum as possible laterally rather than vertically.
- lifeisstillgood 11y agoGhana is at an interesting position vis-a-vis UK. We are on the same time zone, and there are about five daily flights between london, which has what anecdotally feels like a big Ghanaian population. I am not sure where I am going with this other than if Ghana was a stock, she would be a strong buy.
- Paul_S 11y agoGhana does have a stock exchange so if you really believe and not just hope that Ghana is on the rise buy some stock - put your advice to the test.
- lifeisstillgood 11y agoThank you. I shall
- Paul_S 11y agoI hope to read a feel-good story on your blog about this in a few years' time.
- stuxnet79 11y agoEvery time I hear of an underdog trying to introduce a space program I'm reminded of the anime Planetes and the pessimistic take it had on the issue. But it would be great if Ghana did indeed stat a Space Program. We need at least one African country seriously trying to build a bridge to the stars.