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Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
- animal_spirits 2y agoI think it’s awesome that more People are bringing their talents to satellite engineering.
- echoangle 2y agoDon’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.
- mainecoder 2y agoOf 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.
- aaronblohowiak 2y agoWhat do you think about RFA?
- echoangle 2y agoAnd Isar Aerospace is also European and is set to launch tomorrow (although they seem to think it will explode at some point). But I don’t know if they will be particularly cheap.
- wat10000 2y agoSpaceX didn't spend an absurd amount of money getting Falcon 9 to where it is. It was a lot, but pretty typical, even somewhat cheap, for developing a brand new rocket. Repeating their feat should be even cheaper, since you won't be taking detours trying out parachutes and such before settling on the final architecture. It's a relatively straightforward application of known technology, not bleeding edge stuff like 5nm chip making. An organization that can produce Ariane 6 should be able to produce a Falcon 9 clone with similar effort. The real problem is overcoming the of the old, slow, expensive way of doing things.
- notahacker 2y agoFunnily enough the European Launcher Challenge just dropped recently, supposed to be modelled on NASA's procurement process that ultimately lead to SpaceX being a thing. But the EUR169m contracts aren't likely to get you a Falcon 9 clone, and there isn't exactly a ton of private capital for newspace sloshing around in Europe If anything Europe has the opposite problem: the launch startups are all far too small to do anything on a Falcon 9 scale. SpaceX did't get to Falcon 9 early either. Sure, Arianespace probably could build a Falcon 9 clone, but it's not something they'd want to self fund, and there's quite a few ESA members that don't want to see most of their budget contributions go to funding the development of a foreign launch monopolist...
- perihelions 2y agoIf it's so easy to clone it, where are the clones? I've been reading about Airbus' reusable/recoverable SpaceX-killers for over a decade now. They've yet to have anything to show for their work. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adeline_(rocket_stage) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adeline_(rocket_stage) https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33006056 https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-33006056 ("Airbus unveils 'Adeline' re-usable rocket concept" (2015)) - "...Airbus says it has been working on the concept since 2010 and has even flight-tested small demonstrators..." (That BBC article predates the first Falcon rocket landing).
- wat10000 2y agoDon't get me wrong, that problem of overcoming the old, slow, expensive way of doing things is huge for any established launch organization. I don't expect Airbus or ULA to get there. But it's not because the technology is so difficult that they can't do it. A new rocket company with a couple billion dollars in funding would have a good chance.
- dmitrygr 2y ago> The only serious players are the US and China Forgot one https://www.rocketlaunch.live/?filter=roscosmos https://www.rocketlaunch.live/?filter=roscosmos
- tonyhart7 2y agorussia is poor now that their entire economy is shaken by war, I doubt they would even get competitive in the future even I would award third place to India or CNSA
- dmitrygr 2y agoLuckily for you, the linked site has upcoming schedules to trivially look this up. India has 6 launches upcoming in 2025, Rosskosmos has 8 and Russian military has one more. So Russia is launching 50% more than India in 2025.
- tonyhart7 2y agoroscosmos launch is because they still get contract from NASA to International Space Station
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- lupusreal 2y agoMoney doesn't change hands for Russia launching astronauts or NASA launching cosmonauts. They're basically bartering for the sake of knowing the station will be manned even if one side gets grounded.
- tonyhart7 2y ago"Money doesn't change hands for Russia launching astronauts or NASA launching cosmonauts" did you see my parent comment or not??? I am not trying to question their ability for them get to space, it doesn't matter if you CAN go to space but you didn't have money for it its clear that NASA and Roscosmos collaboration days is numbered and would not continue in the future because geo politic
- dyauspitr 2y agoIndia’s ISRO is definitely a serious player.
- lupusreal 2y agoRoscosmos is dead to international commercial partners, but are still putting a great deal into space. Third place behind SpaceX and China.
- notahacker 2y agoI 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)
- Onavo 2y agoWhy do they ask you not to mention them publicly?
- notahacker 2y agoI assume because they don't exactly need the promotion, and a ton of small companies on rideshares mentioning SpaceX in advance of missions they then fail to successfully operate (usually through no fault of SpaceX's) isn't good publicity.
- tonyhart7 2y agoSpaceX tired of winning
- kortilla 2y agoCompanies frequently do this kind of thing when they don’t want you to use them as promo material through an implied partnership. Because spacex also makes satellites, they don’t want confusion about which satellites are theirs. “MyCompany Partners with SpaceX to launch new communications satellite” is not something their PR team wants to deal with disambiguating.
- mistrial9 2y agothe word sovereign does not appear in this reply
- echoangle 2y ago
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- parsimo2010 2y agoVery few organizations and even countries can develop both a launch vehicle and a satellite. Botswana has done fine to develop a satellite that integrates onto a rideshare launch. They aren't working with anything close to the headcount or budget of NASA or even the ESA. Edit (rather than reply and make the comment chain long): It's fine that you read it that way. I figure that if the article were about a launch vehicle then it would have been the rocket's name in the title, and if the article were about the satellite then it would have the satellite's name (BOTSAT-1). If Botswana had developed both an orbital launch vehicle and their first satellite then I'd bet the headline would have been sensational.
- echoangle 2y agoMaybe my comment should have been more clear. I don’t think it’s surprising or bad that they don’t have their own launch vehicle, I just found the headline a bit misleading because it could sound that way. It’s still a great achievement.
- hnuser123456 2y agoI get what you're saying, something like "Botswana successfully begins orbital operations of its first satellite" would be more accurate, but simply not clickbaity enough.
- KennyBlanken 2y agoIt's standard language used by the press. As explained further up the comment chain, very few nations have the capability to even put a satellite into orbit. The notability is that they have a satellite up for their purposes; they're not trying to claim that they did the launch themselves. If this were some random corporation, none of you wouldn't have blinked an eyelid at a title like "Megacorp successfully launches first satellite" when all but 3-4 companies in the world rely on someone else to do the launch. There's more hair-splitting going on here than in a hair salon.
- closewith 2y ago
- segmondy 2y agoBut you did mean to belittle the achievement, just like when people say, "I don't mean to offend you but ...", they know they are going to offend you and still choose to by saying what they wanted to say.
- tonyhart7 2y agoI like passive aggressive tone
- heraldgeezer 2y agoThese types of countries can't even keep power, internet WAN, mobile RAN/Core, infra up on a consistent basis. I knew it had to be something like this. Yes, mask off. Yes, I am tired.
- echoangle 2y agoI am not saying that this is the case with Botswana but it could also be a matter of priorities. At least North Korea is able to do orbital launches while the living conditions of an average citizen is less than ideal.
- igravious 2y agoI'm curious, which "type" of country are you saying Botswana is? As far as I'm aware of Botswana does not have the power outages of its neighbour South Africa … Perhaps you're right, maybe it is a mask off moment for you … “Botswana, a landlocked country in Southern Africa, has recently made considerable strides in developing a reliable electricity supply network to support its growing economy and improve the quality of life for its citizens. However, occasional power outages and load shedding do still occur during peak demand periods or when there are unforeseen challenges, such as equipment failures or extreme weather events.” https://www.sinalda.com/world-voltages/africa/voltage-botswana/ https://www.sinalda.com/world-voltages/africa/voltage-botswa...
- heraldgeezer 2y ago[flagged]
- zuminator 2y ago> baby being fed this equality all countries are good blergh blergh bs all my life. Nobody in this thread has made anything like those kinds of sentiments. The very fact that we are taking note of Botswana's satellite nearly 70 years after Spitnik 1 makes it quite obvious how much less developed they are in aerospace. I would think that especially if someone is against such things as foreign aid to non-Europeans, and culturally relative assessment of intelligence, that they would be in favor of seeing countries like Botswana take steps to develop home grown expertise in engineering, reducing the need to rely on outside largesse, and coming a step closer to achieving developmental escape velocity.
- walrus01 2y agoPlenty of small nation states have the financial resources and a government ministry-level "space" department that has the money to launch up to like, a 6U size cubesat, but don't have their own launcher. This is in fact more normal than not, if you look at a map of countries which have their own locally developed, frequently-in-use launchers capable of sending at least 100kg to low earth orbit, vs those which do not.
- barbazoo 2y agoI took “launch” a bit less literal. They launch a product, an initiative, whatever.
- motorest 2y ago> Don’t want to belittle the achievement but (...) Yeah, but you kind of are. > (...) 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. Yes, it's the kind of thing that even NASA does nowadays. Cool feat by Botswana. Outstanding.
- vasco 2y agoFrom 1 highschool program in 2006 (TJ3SAT) there's now over 50 high scool programs launching cubesat style satellites. Some use base kits, making the launch even easier. Sure, it's amazing they have a bootstrapping engineering community in Botswana, but this isn't more sophisticated than a high school program with money to pay for the ride up. To compare what NASA does to this seems like a soft discrimination of low expectations, which is so common when referring to developing countries.
- motorest 2y ago> From 1 highschool program in 2006 (TJ3SAT) there's now over 50 high scool programs launching cubesat style satellites. Some use base kits, making the launch even easier. Sure, it's amazing they have a bootstrapping engineering community in Botswana, but this isn't more sophisticated than a high school program with money to pay for the ride up. I think you're trying very hard to grasp at straws to belittle a whole country, while being completely oblivious to the domain. For reference, Ireland launched its first satellite on 2023. Does this give you the right to shit on Ireland's achievement? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first_satellites_by_country https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_first_satellites_by_co...
- vasco 2y agoThat's funny. Go read up about cubesats friend.
- Apocryphon 2y agoIt was from a university. > EIRSAT-1 (Educational Irish Research Satellite-1) is a European Space Agency-sponsored 2U CubeSat developed and built by University College Dublin > The mission of EIRSAT-1 is to advance education in space science and engineering across the whole island of Ireland through collaboration between student teams, higher education institutions and high-tech companies. Actually it looks like most of the first national satellites listed are operated by colleges and universities, not high schools.
- epolanski 2y ago> Don’t want to belittle the achievement You literally did. > as it sounds like on the first read That's your interpretation, the title literally says: "Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 "
- dmix 2y agoTitles on HN often get updated
- declan_roberts 2y ago[flagged]
- electrozav 2y agoIt's a whole satellite now in orbit for the people of Botswana. The payload is plenty of engineering, people. What an amazing feat
- blobbers 2y ago… this does not seem like their best use of resources.
- zvorygin 2y agoBotswana is actually reasonably well developed and stable. It seems fine, and I applaud them.
- dyauspitr 2y agoPolitically stable, relatively low corruption and economical acceptable. They are doing many things well relative to the rest of Africa. On the other hand, 30% of their women have HIV.
- anon291 2y agoIt is very difficult to change mass culture.
- throwaway2037 2y agoWith the current generation of HIV drugs, most of those women should live into their 60s (at least). Also, the latest generation can get HIV virus counts to below testable densities. I expect their HIV issues to be resolved over the next 30-50 years, where the number of new cases will fall dramatically, and almost no one will die from AIDS-related causes.
- dyauspitr 2y agoWith adherence to the drug regimen the current prognosis is even better than that at 75 years of life expectancy. The problem is adherence to the regimen is hard and lack of adherence means you’re a potential spreader again. That being said I believe Botswana has 90%+ of its hiv positive population on ART drugs.
- technothrasher 2y agoIt's amazing to see the stark difference when crossing the border from Zimbabwe into Botswana.
- heavymetalpoizn 2y ago[dead]
- tarkin2 2y ago[flagged]
- throwaway2037 2y agoSmall? Not at all. Google tells me: Botswana, with an area of 581,730 square kilometers, is roughly the size of France or Texas, and slightly larger than the combined area of the UK and Ireland.
- markdown 2y agoDon't blame them for the assumption based on 450 years with the mercator projection that makes USA and European nations look bigger than they are and African nations look smaller than they are.
- loudmax 2y agoBut with a population of 2.7 million. That is the more relevant factor here, and by this metric they're on the side of tiny. And that makes their ability to develop a functioning satellite that integrates into a launch vehicle all the more impressive! Kudos to Botswana's engineers.
- Dylan16807 2y ago> And that makes their ability to develop a functioning satellite that integrates into a launch vehicle all the more impressive! Kudos to Botswana's engineers. I'd like to say that but I don't think it's accurate. Endurosat handled at least the baseline functionality and launch vehicle integration.
- 9dev 2y agoOkay, so a random American internet user has displayed his ignorance of the rest of the world. And the arrogance in this comment? Off the charts, to say the least. A sign of the times, perhaps.
- sheunl 2y agoWhy so much negativity under this post? This is a positive in terms of global scientific and technological progress.
- redox99 2y agoProbably because people are annoyed that "launching satellites" is portrayed as a major feat (as it once was), when nowadays launching a CubeSat is not that impressive.
- Narishma 2y agoProbably because of the original clickbait title, which seems to have been changed by the mods to be more accurate.
- LeoPanthera 2y agoSurprisingly close to the plot of an episode of 90s cheesy British techno-thriller "Bugs": Part 1: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0533567 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0533567 Part 2: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0533529 https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0533529 Probably less sabotage and space laser weapons in the real thing.
- chirau 2y agoZimbabwe did the same thing a few years back. The satellite eventually got lost in space.
- shreddit 2y agoIsn’t that the fate of all satellites?
- voidUpdate 2y agoWell a lot of them get lost in the atmosphere
- chirau 2y agoSometimes I struggle understanding HN. I did not share an opinion. Simply stated two events that were a matter of fact. Yet someone I am being downvoted for this. 1. Zimbabwe did the same thing a few years back. Source: https://itweb.africa/content/dgp45qaBBQevX9l8 https://itweb.africa/content/dgp45qaBBQevX9l8 2. The satellite eventually got lost in space. Source: https://www.nanosats.eu/sat/zimsat-1 https://www.nanosats.eu/sat/zimsat-1
- Dylan16807 2y ago> I did not share an opinion. Simply stated two events that were a matter of fact. Yet someone I am being downvoted for this. If you're completely avoiding any opinions or implications, then a fact about another country lacks relevance to the article. And comments lacking relevance generally get a downvote.
- scrappyjoe 2y agoSo 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 inform decisions blows my mind. I grew up in the village that now hosts the university. We were so isolated back then that I’d listen to the Voice of America and marvel at the things that were being done in the developed world, and wonder if we would ever be able to participate in that level. The fact that a smart kid can grow up to attend a local university and end up launching a SATELLITE INTO SPACE is incredible!
- 0xDEAFBEAD 2y agoCongratulations!
- mmooss 2y agoCongratulations! And thank you for sharing an informed perspective (maybe the only one in this discussion!). As you know, Botswana is also one of Africa's leading democracies.
- Swinx43 2y agoAbsolutely fantastic!! I love Botswana. I spent quite a lot of time in Gaborone for work. Growing up my home town was 80 kilometres from the Botswana border and we regularly visited friends there. I am so happy to see this news. Botswana has a special place in my heart. Well done Botswana! I can’t wait to see what else comes next.
- NeutralForest 2y agoI'm very glad to hear about your experience, it also touches on something deeply human when we can elevate ourselves and reach for the sky =)
- mrtksn 2y agoDon't worry too much about negative opinions, there is usually a strong bias against non-US projects in the English speaking web. A common trick is to have an office in USA and make it hard to figure out where's your project actually based. There's usually some sympathy for the British and Israeli, then you get some envy for the Russian and Japanese based stuff if they are doing something authentic or feeds into the stereotypes. Lastly you can get sympathy based on current culture war or political talking points(EU lately gets some sympathy and heat for being not-Trump for example). They will deny it but it is true, if you read the English-only web you will get the impression that no one outside the US does anything innovative and the rest of the world just lives lives of a caricature. The last few years many people were involved in fintech assuming that outside the US consumer banking must be horrible or non-existent if its that bad the USA. Many got investment in blockchain BS that will bring banking and online payments to Africa or Asia or something, only to fail once they realized that in many of those places that tech was much more developed and widely used than the US! No wonder the negativity when you mention Botswana :) You should pair it with something to create a story. Maybe start a Bitcoin national reserves or make Firefox the default browser on government computers, anything that a group of people have opinions(if Botswana is taking on tech giants and launching a satellite, some people will be rooting for Botswana and will write how the company they hate is finished thanks to the Botswana's satellite). Even better if you can incorporate something hot like AI, from an underdog like Anthropic ideally.
- nathancahill 2y agoAlong similar lines, Guatemala launched it's first satellite QUETZAL-1. It was in space for 211 days. While the technology isn't groundbreaking compared to satellites built by developed countries, it's massive in terms of inspiring future STEM students. Brain drain is a real problem. Providing pathways to scientific careers in smaller countries is objectively a Good Thing. https://www.uvg.edu.gt/cubesat-en/ https://www.uvg.edu.gt/cubesat-en/
- ChrisMarshallNY 2y agoVery good to hear! I have never been there (I grew up in Africa), but I have always been told that Botswana is one of the more stable nations in Africa (I grew up in … less stable … nations). Africa has amazing amounts of natural resources, and the most energetic, passionate, people I’ve ever known.
- gcanyon 2y agoI've had a soft spot for Botswana ever since I read The Cry of the Kalahari. Go BOTSAT-1!
- pfdietz 2y agoI wonder when the first satellite was launched from Africa. Perhaps the Italian San Marco 1 satellite, launched from Kenya in 1964?