6 ms·

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

by chirau 7y ago

mirajshah 7y ago
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.
- pergadad 7y ago
  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.
  - chatmasta 7y ago
    I wouldn’t underestimate the political value of a satellite launch. There is a lot of propaganda value, both domestically and internationally, to entering the “club” of space-faring nations. Not to be crass, but “launch a satellite” is literally an achievement in the Civilization games. The very act of launching it means something, even if only symbolic.
faizshah 7y ago
I dunno how true this is but my african friends have told me that telecom in africa is extremely expensive and calling someone the next village over can have huge charges. So african countries under the African Union created the African Telecommunications Union to send out an african owned telecom sattelite instead of having to pay for western owned telecom sattelite usage. Again this is second hand info and I don't know much about African politics but telecom is clearly one important reason.
- filleduchaos 7y ago
  Call to the next village? Really? Unless you were having that conversation two decades ago, they 100% were just having you on.
  - aassddffasdf 7y ago
    This should not be downvoted. filleduchaos is right. Get over yourselves nerds.
  - faizshah 7y ago
    Exaggerating, sure. But, the general point is accurate especially when looking at cost relative to income: https://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/original-size/20110521_WOC767_0.gif https://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/o... More recent: https://a4ai.org/extra/mobile_broadband_pricing_heat_map-2019Q2 https://a4ai.org/extra/mobile_broadband_pricing_heat_map-201...
    - filleduchaos 7y ago
      Your first link is from 2011 and is about cost of devices, and your second is about data plans, not mobile call rates. I doubt your intention was to prove my point very loudly, but here we are.
      - faizshah 7y ago
        Actually it's based on this data on mobile services cost: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/ipb/ http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/ipb/ I included the data from 2011 because it includes mobile services cost whereas the other is newer but on data costs. Not sure what your point is at all other than to be pedantic and obfuscate the general point to be honest. The point being that african telecom costs are some of the highest in the world and this would be one use for a satellite...
        Zancarius 7y ago
trophycase 7y ago
Why does anyone need satellites? This might have been a relevant question in the 80s.
- reaperducer 7y ago
  Why does anyone need satellites? This might have been a relevant question in the 80s. Or in the 1940's, when communications satellites were first proposed by Arthur C. Clarke.
trianglem 7y ago
The uses are endless. Telecom, survey, mining, weather, agriculture etc.
elil17 7y ago
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.
- iguy 7y ago
  But is this true? Sure if you want coverage of Siberia you may need your own, but doesn't every orbit cross the equator? I would have thought plenty of satellites cross Ethiopia every hour, although perhaps not bothering to run all their cameras without a customer?
  - mdszy 7y ago
    Geostationary orbits won't necessarily cross the equator.
    - yellowapple 7y ago
      I'm reasonably sure satellite imaging happens pretty far below geostationary, though. It'd be interesting if we could someday park satellites in geostationary and just stare at a given spot continuously, but lens technology just ain't there yet, last I checked.
      - mdszy 7y ago
        NOAA has a network of geostationary weather satellites. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_Operational_Environmental_Satellite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_Operational_Envi...
    - goodcanadian 7y ago
      Yes, they will. The only place you can put a geostationary satellite is on the equator. In theory, they stay in position above the selected point on the equator. In practice, they aren't perfectly stationary, and they will move around the designated point, which will, of necessity, cross the equator.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
alphakappa 7y ago
The same reasons any country needs satellites. Telecommunications, resource monitoring, science, weather... Sorry, but unless you believe that satellites are superfluous in general, why are you asking if these countries need satellites? Are they something only rich/western countries need? Or should other countries simply be dependent on the countries that already build/launch them?
rburhum 7y ago
Bolivia bought a communication satellite from the chinese to provide TV and Internet to the entire country - which is mostly rural areas that are difficult to reach (think the Andes). The other countries use multi-spectral and radar-based satellites to do several things like: - territorial planning (e.g. cadastre and zoning) - agricultural yield improvements (irrigation and disease detection, crop classification, etc) - forest fire detection - illegal mining, illegal deforestation or illegal plantation detection - pre-disaster planning and post-disaster recovery and other military activities. the use cases depend a lot on the type of satellite they own

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

by chirau 7y ago

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.

pergadad 7y ago
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.
- chatmasta 7y ago
  I wouldn’t underestimate the political value of a satellite launch. There is a lot of propaganda value, both domestically and internationally, to entering the “club” of space-faring nations. Not to be crass, but “launch a satellite” is literally an achievement in the Civilization games. The very act of launching it means something, even if only symbolic.

faizshah 7y ago

I dunno how true this is but my african friends have told me that telecom in africa is extremely expensive and calling someone the next village over can have huge charges. So african countries under the African Union created the African Telecommunications Union to send out an african owned telecom sattelite instead of having to pay for western owned telecom sattelite usage. Again this is second hand info and I don't know much about African politics but telecom is clearly one important reason.

filleduchaos 7y ago
Call to the next village? Really? Unless you were having that conversation two decades ago, they 100% were just having you on.
- aassddffasdf 7y ago
  This should not be downvoted. filleduchaos is right. Get over yourselves nerds.
- faizshah 7y ago
  Exaggerating, sure. But, the general point is accurate especially when looking at cost relative to income: https://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/original-size/20110521_WOC767_0.gif https://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/o... More recent: https://a4ai.org/extra/mobile_broadband_pricing_heat_map-2019Q2 https://a4ai.org/extra/mobile_broadband_pricing_heat_map-201...
  - filleduchaos 7y ago
    Your first link is from 2011 and is about cost of devices, and your second is about data plans, not mobile call rates. I doubt your intention was to prove my point very loudly, but here we are.
    - faizshah 7y ago
      Actually it's based on this data on mobile services cost: http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/ipb/ http://www.itu.int/ITU-D/ict/ipb/ I included the data from 2011 because it includes mobile services cost whereas the other is newer but on data costs. Not sure what your point is at all other than to be pedantic and obfuscate the general point to be honest. The point being that african telecom costs are some of the highest in the world and this would be one use for a satellite...
      - Zancarius 7y ago

trophycase 7y ago

Why does anyone need satellites? This might have been a relevant question in the 80s.

reaperducer 7y ago
Why does anyone need satellites? This might have been a relevant question in the 80s. Or in the 1940's, when communications satellites were first proposed by Arthur C. Clarke.

trianglem 7y ago

The uses are endless. Telecom, survey, mining, weather, agriculture etc.

elil17 7y ago

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.

iguy 7y ago
But is this true? Sure if you want coverage of Siberia you may need your own, but doesn't every orbit cross the equator? I would have thought plenty of satellites cross Ethiopia every hour, although perhaps not bothering to run all their cameras without a customer?
- mdszy 7y ago
  Geostationary orbits won't necessarily cross the equator.
  - yellowapple 7y ago
    I'm reasonably sure satellite imaging happens pretty far below geostationary, though. It'd be interesting if we could someday park satellites in geostationary and just stare at a given spot continuously, but lens technology just ain't there yet, last I checked.
    - mdszy 7y ago
      NOAA has a network of geostationary weather satellites. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_Operational_Environmental_Satellite https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geostationary_Operational_Envi...
  - goodcanadian 7y ago
    Yes, they will. The only place you can put a geostationary satellite is on the equator. In theory, they stay in position above the selected point on the equator. In practice, they aren't perfectly stationary, and they will move around the designated point, which will, of necessity, cross the equator.

deleted 7y ago

[deleted]

alphakappa 7y ago

The same reasons any country needs satellites. Telecommunications, resource monitoring, science, weather... Sorry, but unless you believe that satellites are superfluous in general, why are you asking if these countries need satellites? Are they something only rich/western countries need? Or should other countries simply be dependent on the countries that already build/launch them?

rburhum 7y ago

Bolivia bought a communication satellite from the chinese to provide TV and Internet to the entire country - which is mostly rural areas that are difficult to reach (think the Andes). The other countries use multi-spectral and radar-based satellites to do several things like: - territorial planning (e.g. cadastre and zoning) - agricultural yield improvements (irrigation and disease detection, crop classification, etc) - forest fire detection - illegal mining, illegal deforestation or illegal plantation detection - pre-disaster planning and post-disaster recovery and other military activities. the use cases depend a lot on the type of satellite they own