
Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space - bekman
https://qz.com/africa/1772671/ethiopia-launched-its-first-space-satellite-with-chinas-help/
======
rburhum
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 locally. If you don’t, then they have a
hook on you and hand hold you through the entire process - at an additional
cost.

Additionally, after a country purchases one, they tend to have their own
development path for the future ones.

For example, the Argentinians did their first four satellites with the help of
the US (SAC-A, SAC-B, SAC-C, SAC-D), the next two were done by themselves
(ARSAT-1, ARSAT-2), two more with the Italians (SAOCOM-A, SAOCOM-B) and one
with the Brazilians (SABIA-MAR).

It is a process filled with a lot of politics, questionable monetary
interests, and pseudo national pride.

It is the new shortcut process by which countries are entering the space era.
Buy a satellite when you don't know what you are doing, then co-build it with
somebody, then build it by yourself. It effectively saves you billions in
trial and error tests that other countries had to go through... but it really
begs the question of when is it _truly_ yours, because if you don’t follow the
rules (e.g. taking high res imagery of an area you are not supposed to),
“your” satellite can easily be temporarily or permanently disabled... and
there goes your 300M

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

~~~
faizshah
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
Call to the next village? Really?

Unless you were having that conversation two decades ago, they 100% were just
having you on.

~~~
faizshah
Exaggerating, sure. But, the general point is accurate especially when looking
at cost relative to income:
[https://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/o...](https://media.economist.com/sites/default/files/imagecache/original-
size/20110521_WOC767_0.gif)

More recent:
[https://a4ai.org/extra/mobile_broadband_pricing_heat_map-201...](https://a4ai.org/extra/mobile_broadband_pricing_heat_map-2019Q2)

~~~
filleduchaos
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
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...

~~~
filleduchaos
My point is that "it's too expensive for Africans (from an unspecified
country, because of course the entire continent of 1.3 billion people has the
same socioeconomic status everywhere) to call people in the next _village_
(and it being the next village is somehow relevant because mobile call rates
are tied to literal physical distance, obviously)" is exactly the kind of
poverty porn nonsense that Westerners lap up about SSA without thinking, and I
make an effort to call it out everywhere I see it.

I am curious about your thoughts on satellites as a particularly cost-
effective way to improve mobile telecoms, considering that cellular networks
are largely driven by masts that are very much on the ground and (in West
Africa for instance), backed by submarine fibre-optic cables.

As an aside, it's extremely interesting to me that in most of my interactions
with Westerners they seem rather incapable of finding very easily discoverable
primary sources on living conditions in Africa. It would take maybe ten
seconds to pull up actual December 2019 call rates and tariff plans from
telecoms companies in Ethiopia or Nigeria or Rwanda or Botswana or wherever,
but I instead get linked to data that aggregates mobile device and data plan
prices from years ago. Then again I suppose that if one unironically believes
that people here are stuck unable to call people in the _next village_ it
wouldn't occur to them that this sort of information is widely available from
Africans themselves.

For example, I use MTN and pay a flat rate of (the equivalent of) $0.0003 per
second for calls and $0.011 to send texts. I'm on a 15GB data plan that costs
$13.83, and the monthly plans go down to $2.77 for 1.5GB. There are also plans
that will give you access to certain social media (Facebook, Twitter,
Whatsapp, Instagram, etc) for a month for less than a dollar.

~~~
faizshah
> "it's too expensive for Africans to call people in the next village"

What's the point of using quotes if you're not quoting...

What was actually said: "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_.

Again this is second hand info and I don't know much about African politics
but telecom is clearly one important reason."

If we consider saying "in the midwest fiber optic internet is extremely
expensive" to be poverty porn then I suppose I'm guilty...

They were Cameroonian btw...

------
cmdshiftf4
Sub-Saharan Africa feels like a missed opportunity now for Europe and the US.

While the US and EU has been focused on donating aid, or through NGOs merely
shipping Africans into Europe without much of a plan and then shrugging their
shoulders when problems arise, China has been making deals there and investing
an utterly staggering amount on an on-going basis into its development and
future prosperity.

Some will proclaim "But they'll owe China! That won't end well!", which is
shortsighted, lacking in self-awareness and playing into the "everyone that
isn't us is the boogeyman" narrative the West likes to maintain.

In the same time that China has been spending its money on African investment,
the US has been spending literally trillions on literally baseless wars,
directly costing the lives of a countless amount of people in doing so and
upending the lives of countless others.

Good on China, and good for Africa. I hope to live to see that continent
prosper, although if any success is in sight I'm sure we'll see the US find
_some_ _reason_ to deploy the so-richly invested military there.

~~~
tines
> Some will proclaim "But they'll owe China! That won't end well!", which is
> shortsighted, lacking in self-awareness and playing into the "everyone that
> isn't us is the boogeyman" narrative the West likes to maintain.

Exactly. There aren't many Uighurs in Africa, so Africa should be fine.

~~~
bilbo0s
Do you know what Uighurs are?

I mean, I guess China doesn't so much mind them when they are in Africa.
Thousands of miles away. But they're all muslim.

~~~
threeseed
Pretty sure it was a joke.

And China doesn't care about who they are dealing with in Africa or anywhere
else. As long as you have money, are willing to ignore China's human rights
abuses and aren't a threat to the stability of the Chinese governing
structures you're all good.

------
LatteLazy
I mean no disrespect to Ethiopia but no, China launched it.

This is important because the ability to put an object in space is a huge
achievement with geopolitical consequences. If you can put an object into
space (even low earth orbit) you can put one in Time Square or the Kremlin and
no one can stop you. That's why it's a big deal when a country first launches
a satellite...

Sorry to be the arsehole here. But it should be made clear Ethiopia has NOT
just jumped up on the possible threat scale...

~~~
oefrha
The accurate title would be “China launched Ethiopia’s first satellite into
space.”

The original title, “Ethiopia has launched its first satellite into space with
China’s help”, is still mostly accurate with a generous reading.

The submitted title was strangely altered to drop the key caveat, not sure if
the submitter disapproves of “Chinese influence” or something.

~~~
dmix
I’m sure dang or whoever will add the “with China’s help” bit, no biggie.

------
wiremine
Ethiopia's GDP growth has been on a tear since 2000. [1]

If you visit the capital, you can't miss the Chinese influence. Last time I
was there, a huge Chinese bank building was going up kiddy corner to the
Airport in Addis.

BTW, if you haven't visited Ethiopia, put it on your list. It's an amazingly
beautiful country.

[1]
[https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&...](https://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=ny_gdp_mktp_cd&idim=country:ETH:TZA:UGA&hl=en&dl=en)

~~~
grecy
I just spent three years driving around Africa. I visited 35 different
countries all around the continent. [1]

The Chiense influence is _staggering_. I'm writing a book about it now. Many,
many parts of Africa are developing faster than any of us can comprehend,
because we've never seen it.

In the last ~20 years cities like LA and Vancouver have gotten bigger, but
they're more or less what they were - there were skyscrapers, electricity,
water, freeways etc. Now it's just a bit bigger.

There are hundreds of cities in Africa that have gone from dirt streets to
modern city with skyscrapers, 4G internet, subways (or above ground rail),
running water end electricity, etc. in just 10 years.

It boggles the mind

[1] [http://theroadchoseme.com/africa-expedition-
overview](http://theroadchoseme.com/africa-expedition-overview) &
[http://instagram.com/theroadchoseme](http://instagram.com/theroadchoseme)

~~~
9nGQluzmnq3M
> hundreds of cities with subways

No, there aren't. There is exactly one (1) city in sub-Saharan Africa with a
modern urban rail system, and it's Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In the rest of the
continent's megacities (Nairobi, Lagos, etc) decent urban transit remains a
dream. China has funded a bunch of long-distance rail, but that's primarily
for trade (read: exporting raw materials).

But I still tip my pith helmet at you for crossing the DRC by Jeep!

~~~
_djo_
While it's not surface light rail, I'd argue that the Gautrain in Johannesburg
& Tshwane counts as a modern urban rail system, especially as it incorporates
substantial subway sections.

------
wcoenen
> _The Chinese satellite was designed and built at a cost of $8 million, with
> China paying around $6 million of the capsule’s price_

It is odd that the article mentions these details about the satellite cost,
but then completely ignores the much larger cost of the launch itself, which
should be on the order of $50M.

 _edit_ : apparantly it was a rideshare with 9 satellites total.
[https://www.space.com/china-long-march-4b-rocket-
launches-9-...](https://www.space.com/china-long-march-4b-rocket-
launches-9-satellites.html)

~~~
rory096
It's a 70kg satellite. Would have to be a rideshare, not a primary payload.

------
VonGuard
Ethiopia is on a real tear right now! The prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, came
into power about 2 years ago and the first thing he did was release 100% of
political prisoners in the country. It's the first time the country has had no
political prisoners in decades. He then grabbed all his opposition together
and worked with them. The reforms he's introduced are incredible, and show how
things can be fixed in a nation that's torn apart for years by dictatorship
and war. Abiy is definitely the greatest leader of our modern era. The man
took a totalitarian country at war with its neighbors and flipped it 180
degrees in 18 months. He ended the war, removed totalitarian policies, and the
country's people can even admit that there were government funded murder
campaigns, something that if you'd talked about previously, you'd have been
murdered. A great story all around. He heartily deserved the Nobel Peace
Prize.

------
alphakappa
Almost every time there is a story about a non western country launching
rockets or satellites, the trolls come out commenting on how these countries
need to be focusing on poverty _instead_ of launching satellites. As if
science isn’t a way to improving the lot of people. As if science isn’t a way
to motivate a new generation of kids. As if all the communications, weather
monitoring, and resource management that satellites make possible aren’t ways
to improve the place. As if national pride amounts for nothing. As if
countries can only focus on _one thing at a time_. As if western countries
fixed all of their social and economic problems before working on
technological advances.

Racism has many forms, and this is one. Learn to recognize it and move away
from it.

------
Giorgi
Wait so China launched it from China, with China paying most of it's price.

How the hell is this "Ethopian"?

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ttttodayjunior
Bit misleading - China designed and launched the satellite, partially paid for
by Ethiopia

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zeristor
Why has the title been edited, I posted this story the other day with the "...
with China's help" ending.

[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21850364](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=21850364)

------
pjc50
Was wondering how democratic Ethiopia was, and:

> The EPRDF won the 2010 elections by a landslide, taking 499 seats, while
> allied parties took a further 35. Oppositions parties took just 2. Both
> opposition groups say their observers were blocked from entering polling
> stations during the election on Sunday, May 23, and in some cases the
> individuals were beaten. The United States and the European Union have both
> criticized the election as falling short of international standards.
> Additionally, the EPRDF won all but one of 1,904 council seats in regional
> elections.

~~~
dmix
Ethiopia is also an early adopter among developing nations to adopt NSA style
surveillance. And like all countries with weak or nonexistent judicial
oversight or independent courts, it was used immediately to target the ruling
parties political adversaries phones. Including journalists and lawyers.

Citizen Lab based out of Canada did a lot of great research exposing it. Of
course the Ethiopian gov bought it all from that Israeli “we don’t sell to bad
guys” NSO and other western companies.

From my understanding the recent election switched the ruling tribe which has
resulted in some positive movement and economic development. One of their big
issues recently was the ruling tribe suppressing one the other major ones
which resulted in big protests and protestors getting killed. I _believe_ that
tribe got into power or at least in a better position.

~~~
dragonwriter
> And like all countries with weak or nonexistent judicial oversight or
> independent courts, it was used immediately to target the ruling parties
> political adversaries phones. Including journalists and lawyers.

To be fair, that was done in the US (though not immediately, that came to
light), which is why we have FISA.

~~~
dmix
I don’t consider secret courts like FISA sufficiently comparable to
independent judicial oversight. It’s oversight theatre.

The FISA rulings and arguments never become public, most of the domestic
surveillance warrants are justified merely by the fact the people will never
find out they were surveilled and therefore won’t be “harmed” by such
behaviour (this was the exact argument which Yahoo was given and lost trying
to fight it in one of the only public FISA rulings available online).

Most importantly only the NSA government lawyers gets to argue the grounds for
surveillance is justified. There is never a point in time where it is critical
analyzed by outside parties so we put 100% of the trust in the FISA judge
panel doing their due diligence and standing up for American citizens rights.

But as we saw with the recent Carter Page FBI investigations the feds can feed
the FISA courts complete crap and they’ll sign off on it anyway. Multiple
times.

I love when people act like this isn’t some rubber stamp court and is actually
sufficient to protect Americans constitutional rights. It so obviously isn’t
and you’d have to be a serious military authoritarian hawk not to see through
that nonsense.

These secret courts live and die because the average person doesn’t understand
how it works and the government is just telling everyone to ”shut up and trust
us”... including decades of congressman on the House Intelligence Committee.

~~~
dragonwriter
> I don’t consider secret courts like FISA sufficiently comparable to
> independent judicial oversight.

I never said they were, that's a different discussio. I said the concrete fact
of abuse of the national security surveillance apparatus against political
opponents when we didn't have even that is why we have FISA (the law, which
involves a lot more than the two courts it creates.)

------
peter303
China is looking for an African location for its deep space network. Perhaps a
dual use station in Ethiopia will fill in that gap. The third partner is
Argentina.

------
dole
Little surprised to see all the ice flaking off the rocket at launch, isn't
this a danger to the rest of the booster, lower fins?

~~~
BitwiseFool
No, it's only really a problem for payloads strapped to the side of the
booster, like the space shuttle.

------
ajmurmann
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.

It makes you wonder how China's involvement has lead to do much growth in such
short time, while the West had been focused on providing to poor, starving
African children for decades. I wonder how much the attitude reflected in the
comment about the donating grandma is common and how it contributed to the
connotative lack of results from Western aid efforts. Did we deep down not
want results, but instead mainly make ourselves feel good while keeping Africa
in a position where they can provide that feeling to us? What concretely is
China doing that we failed to do? How will this pan out on the long term for
Africa? So many interesting topics in here!

~~~
blackearl
China is exploiting them. They're not doing it out of kindness, or for some
moral self-aggrandizing.

~~~
vorpalhex
Yet even this exploitative relationship may prove much more helpful than the
grain and occasional squad of observers the US or UN sends. It's a funny sort
of problem isn't it - perhaps the only way to get genuine investment in these
areas is an almost parasitic relationship. More interesting would be if this
forces the US or other western countries to more aggressively step up to the
plate...

~~~
tristor
The West will never step aggressively to the plate. We aren’t allowed to by
our own domestic politics. One of the major reasons China can become so
directly and aggressively involved is they aren’t white. They don’t have a
history of African colonialism, Apartheid, or slavery in Africa. They’ve done
all these (or similar) and worse, but not in Africa and not in a way which
found domestic disapproval.

If the West ever entered Africa the way China has the politicians leading it
would destroyed at home. It’s more domestic politics and history than
geopolitics.

