Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9
238 comments
·March 26, 2025scrappyjoe
sokols
Congratulations on the successful launch!
> .. I’d listen to the Voice of America..
I grew up listening to VoA as a kid as well, I was born in a then not so developed part of the Balkans. Sometimes I have the feeling that the ordinary Americans don't have a clue about the impact VoA had in the countries like ours.
Dracophoenix
> Sometimes I have the feeling that the ordinary Americans don't have a clue about the impact VoA had in the countries like ours.
It's not a feeling. They don't know because domestic broadcasts of VoA were prohibited by federal law.
blackoil
My father/grandfather were avid fans of international broadcasts. VoA, Radio Nippon, Deutsche Weller, BBC. By our childhood, TV came with 2 channels and in adolescence 60. My son has access to YouTube, Netflix...
thinkingtoilet
As an American, I literally have no idea what Voice of America is.
itishappy
It's America's state-sponsored propaganda network. It wasn't even allowed to broadcast to Americans until last decade. Despite the label, it's been a pretty good source, though admittedly with a pro-US bias. Now it looks like it's been DOGEd.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voice_of_America
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization...
bluGill
It is americas foreign propoganda program. is was intentionally made hard for americans to listen to. That it was hard to get at meant the types of people who want to control government propoganda didn't care and so it turned out to be a reasonable source of low bias information.
hkpack
Together with "Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty" - it was the main source of information not controlled by the party for people behind the iron curtain.
Radio Liberty was employing variety of native journalists living abroad but with the intention to talk about their native countries and cultures.
The amount of influence it had on the generation is hard to overestimate. It was also shut down recently by the DOGE.
jjtheblunt
As an American, I wonder how you don't know.
And therefore I am guessing it was more obvious pre Gorbachev/Reagan era.
clarionbell
Those in government right now certainly don't, or they don't care.
alistairSH
Where "those in government" is "Trump, Musk, and their minions", yep.
The actual bureaucrats are mostly pissed off.
StefanBatory
I am Polish; I didn't grew up during period of Communist occupation, but I've certainly heard of stories of people risking their wellbeing via trying to listen to VoA. It was very much a big crime.
epolanski
Radio Wolna Europa was the one that my parents and grandparents listened to more often in communist Poland.
mmooss
Out of curiosity, why VOA and not the BBC or something else?
mrguyorama
Trump has defunded VoA. >https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cvge4l109r3o
Good luck to anyone in a shitty regime that thought they could at least rely on American propaganda to get some useful info from an alternative. Despite VoA being cheap and enormously effective, and being something no Americans care about, he still kills it.
Gee, I wonder who benefits most from VoA dying?
Swinx43
Absolutely 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.
mmooss
Congratulations! 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.
noufalibrahim
Great to hear the positive note. There was a lot of armchair commentary when India launched its space program and got its satellites in orbit. And your disregard for those voices is exactly how I felt when it happened here in India. Congratulations to Botswana!
mrtksn
Don'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.
leokennis
> outside the US consumer banking must be horrible or non-existent if its that bad the USA
When I read about US consumer banking ("cashing" cheques like its 1975, all kinds of ATM fees, credit scores and having to use weird "you are not really sending money real time but because the app you are sending the payment instruction through is legit you can sort of be assured the money will be paid eventually") and then look at the European payments landscape...I feel happy.
esskay
It is a bit baffling how the US is so far behind on basically everything when it comes to money, banking and payments. I'm not sure many American's even realise how god awful their setup is.
mosburger
Until very recently I worked for an international remittances company. It's remarkable how far behind the U.S. is, and I always tell people the first countries to go (mostly) cashless with mobile wallets are in East Africa... e.g. Kenya had a ton of people using MPesa long before many European/North American/Asian countries had anything analogous.
dingnuts
I don't understand why cashless is a goal. You want DOGE to be able to control who you're allowed to pay, directly? And Trump Admin tracks every transaction?
I understand that w bills with serial numbers, cash is also trackable, but there's something deeply authoritarian about monetary systems predicated on a fiat currency with no physical representation.
Going to have to start buying little bags of silver coins with which to effect personal trade
InDubioProRubio
The world - good and bad, becomes invisible though behind the culture war cliches. They tell you alot about the participants- very little about the world as it is.
api
Do you see signs of Africa undergoing the developmental transformation we’ve seen in past decades in places like China and Vietnam? I’ve been expecting it for a while.
scrappyjoe
Well, scoped to just Botswana, when my dad was 10, in the 60's, we had just 15km of tar road in the whole country.
In the 80's when we moved to the village I grew up in, we didn't have a phone - we had a telegraph address.
In the 90's, to get fresh fruit and cheese, we would drive for 3 hours across sand roads to another country to shop at a supermarket.
In 1998 my village got its first chain restaurant and it was a big deal.
In 2009 I tried to modernise the family business by getting our managers to use email and very few of them could navigate the internet. In 2012, my family's vegetable farming plot was one of many that were claimed by the government to start the BIUST and I couldn't fathom how they would staff it.
And in 2025, the BIUST launched a satellite.
Lots of problems, but certainly progress.
bluGill
Africa is not a country. Some countries in Africa are doing much better than others. Some are the stereotype of a new revolution every few years bringing in a new corruption. Some are stable and growing.
epolanski
I honestly doubt.
Vietnam and China have very stable (albeit dictatures) governments that invest heavily in education and infrastructure.
Most of Africa, except some places like Botswana is very unstable politically. Plenty of conflicts, insane corruption levels.
yard2010
I wish you all the best brother. May your country be heaven for you, your family and your community. Keep up the progress!
Yours, a friend from another developing country
NeutralForest
I'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 =)
nathancahill
Along 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.
electrozav
It's a whole satellite now in orbit for the people of Botswana. The payload is plenty of engineering, people. What an amazing feat
ChrisMarshallNY
Very 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.
sheunl
Why so much negativity under this post? This is a positive in terms of global scientific and technological progress.
redox99
Probably 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
Probably because of the original clickbait title, which seems to have been changed by the mods to be more accurate.
LeoPanthera
Surprisingly close to the plot of an episode of 90s cheesy British techno-thriller "Bugs":
Part 1: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0533567 Part 2: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0533529
Probably less sabotage and space laser weapons in the real thing.
echoangle
Don’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.
parsimo2010
Very 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.
lolinder
> Edit (rather than reply and make the comment chain long):
Sorry to go meta here, but this is just rude, both to OP and to other readers.
For OP, you're effectively pre-empting what they say with your own counterargument, and even more so you're removing the ability for them to counter your counter. You're essentially using the edit feature to end the conversation and ensure you have the final word.
For other readers, you're introducing confusing non-linear flow.
Just reply. It's not hard, and as you can see below you didn't actually prevent a subthread from forming.
pc86
> Sorry to go meta here, but this is just rude, both to OP and to other readers. ... You're essentially using the edit feature to end the conversation and ensure you have the final word.
I've noticed this more and more, especially on more controversial topics (which this is certainly not).
Adam makes a statement, Betty responds. Adam responds, and Betty edits her initial response and conversation ends, likely because Adam didn't see the edit.
fasbiner
Not to sound rude, but I don't know what your normative culture is or why any of us should care what you think is rude on the internet when you lack the self awareness to know that etiquette has no objective basis and is always contingent.
You could skip the disparaging characterizations and make your case for why you think it would be a good guideline. Ie, because it is confusing and non-linear, not because of a bunch of motivations you've inferred about a stranger.
echoangle
Maybe 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
I 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.
teruakohatu
While I agree with the sentiment, my tiny island nation with a population of 5m people was able to develop satellite launch capabilities.
It’s more a case of does it make economic or strategic sense to do so. For most countries it wouldn’t.
parsimo2010
Your tiny island nation (New Zealand) with a GDP an order of magnitude bigger than Botswana's?
Sure, developing a single satellite isn't something that makes a lot of sense in a first order economic assessment. They are definitely not going to be able to sell the data they collect for the millions of dollars they spent on the program. And they definitely spent more on the satellite than they would have spent buying equivalent imagery from commercial providers for the next few years. There is almost no chance that they will have a satellite with competitive technical specs.
But nobody is comparing Botswana to NZ. This is their first satellite. Having a satellite program at the national university is a point of national pride. It will inspire their young people and encourage them to study STEM. It gives valuable practical experience to their people, some of whom might go on to start a space systems company and bring high tech business opportunities to their country. This is a step toward moving part of their economy from being based on natural resources (diamonds, the value of which are subject to the whims of a cartel that they don't control), to being based on knowledge.
KeplerBoy
How much of that US/NZ effort was NZ though?
Dylan16807
> Very few organizations and even countries can develop both a launch vehicle and a satellite.
I would remove the last three words from that.
Launch vehicles are hard. Satellites are easy. This is a cubesat, even.
jakelazaroff
Where’d you read that this is a cubesat? The article implies it’s not:
> These included BOTSAT-1, 26 satellites as part of the Transporter-13 rideshare mission, and a trio of CubeSats for NASA’s Electrojet Zeeman Imaging Explorer (EZIE) mission; Arvaker 1, the first microsatellite for Kongsberg NanoAvionics’ N3X constellation.
fastasucan
Why remove it? It doesn’t change what they say.
closewith
That seems an uncharitable read of the GP. I too assumed from the headline that by using the verb launch, it was referring to an indigenous vehicle.
tonyhart7
we talking about Botswana here, not disrespect to botswana but you can't launch rocket with some serious publication first
we know that china would have rocket back then because scientific advancement, you cant skip steps
aravindputrevu
So true. I think most people don't realise how hard it is really to build a engine that works.
null
harpiaharpyja
Yeah, and that's exactly what makes the title into clickbait.
notahacker
I 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)
echoangle
My problem isn’t that they used a provider for the launch.
I just wanted to clarify because „X launches satellite“ sounds like X launched a rocket carrying a satellite, not that X made a satellite and had it launched by someone else.
Or maybe that’s just me, I’m not a native speaker.
mitthrowaway2
No, it's not just you, the phrase "launches first satellite" in the title is very similar language to what would be used about a country developing launch capability. For example, when headlines say "North Korea launches first spy satellite", the part of that which is big news is their ability to launch a satellite, rather than their ability to build a spy satellite.
(eg.) https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/north-korea-flags...
nukem222
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TomK32
Didn't the USA basically use German tech to launch their first space rockets?
Onavo
Why do they ask you not to mention them publicly?
kortilla
Companies 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.
notahacker
I 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
SpaceX tired of winning
mistrial9
the word sovereign does not appear in this reply
walrus01
Plenty 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.
motorest
> 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
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.
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
> 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_co...
barbazoo
I took “launch” a bit less literal. They launch a product, an initiative, whatever.
null
heraldgeezer
These 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.
igravious
I'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-botswa...
gonzobonzo
Your quote actually proves the previous posters claims that Botswana can’t keep power up on a consistent basis. If you go to the Botswana Power Corporations Twitter page, you get the daily schedule for what areas are going to have their power shot off because they’re unable to meet demand.
It’s great that they’re making improvements in this are and that they’re not as bad as South Africa (assuming your claim is accurate, I haven’t compared the two). But the previous poster’s claim that power can’t be kept up on a consistent basis is accurate.
heraldgeezer
[flagged]
walrus01
> can't even keep power, internet WAN, mobile RAN/Core, infra up on a consistent basis.
You could say this as well about significant parts of Appalachia in the US and other impoverished regions of the US, and many first nations reserves in remote parts of Canada too.
heraldgeezer
I really liked Peter Santellos video on Appalachia. Really beautiful landscape and small towns. There was affluent housing there too and pretty sure they would have cell service?
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLEyPgwIPkHo5If6xyrkr-...
But Appalachia are not launching satellites. They DO have a space telescope!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Bank_Telescope
Very nice video also showing nice landscapes and towns :)
Exploring the Secret US Government Town with No Internet & Phone Service (100% Disconnected?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWJBAGrG0ms
>and many first nations reserves in remote parts of Canada too
Ok, but it would be suprising if an article said they are launching a sattelite?
kortilla
Yes, and it would surprising if someone claimed those First Nations launched a satellite.
xienze
> You could say this as well about significant parts of Appalachia in the US and other impoverished regions of the US
And the reaction here if say West Virginia launched a satellite would be the same: why are you wasting money doing this when <some statistic about widespread poor infrastructure and poverty>.
echoangle
I 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.
gcanyon
I've had a soft spot for Botswana ever since I read The Cry of the Kalahari. Go BOTSAT-1!
pfdietz
I wonder when the first satellite was launched from Africa.
Perhaps the Italian San Marco 1 satellite, launched from Kenya in 1964?
chirau
Zimbabwe did the same thing a few years back. The satellite eventually got lost in space.
shreddit
Isn’t that the fate of all satellites?
voidUpdate
Well a lot of them get lost in the atmosphere
chirau
Sometimes 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
2. The satellite eventually got lost in space. Source: https://www.nanosats.eu/sat/zimsat-1
Dylan16807
> 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.
animal_spirits
I think it’s awesome that more People are bringing their talents to satellite engineering.
heavymetalpoizn
[dead]
So 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!