African Space:

I had just made a post on this topic from another thread, but realize this could be a separate thread some of what's there I cut and paste here, dealing with Africa's fledgling entry into space .

(CNN)Nigeria has announced plans to send an astronaut into space by 2030, as part of its drive to develop a world-class space industry. "The space program is very important," said Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Minister of Science and Technology, during a speech in the capital city Abuja. "Space is a major asset that Nigeria must be involved in for the purpose of protecting national interests.
" A Nigerian Space Agency delegation will visit partners in China this month to discuss logistics and investment for a manned space mission, which would be the first by an African nation. The case for space Dr. Onu's announcement has been greeted with skepticism, partly as it came soon after a scam email demanding $3 million for a lost Nigerian astronaut went viral, and as policy announcements from the new government have been scoring poorly on the Buharimeter, a Nigerian civil society website assessing policy commitments. Onu also recently announced plans to start a pencil manufacturing industry that would create 400,000 jobs. But Nigeria's space program is no joke, and it is making steady progress.

The National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) has launched five satellites since 2003, with three still in orbit delivering vital services. The most recent - NigeriaSat-X -- was the first to be designed and constructed by NASRDA engineers, and more advanced models are in development. Ethiopia starts looking at the stars - from a nearly perfect location Ethiopia starts looking at the stars The space agency has made extensive and creative use of the satellites, from analyzing climate data to improve farming practices, to retrieving hostages from Boko Haram, and officials argue this proves space exploration is essential for Nigeria. "We contribute to various sectors that benefit the nation," says Felix Ale, NASRDA communications chief. "Space applications are key to development." Capacity has improved through greater investment in infrastructure and skills, says Ale, adding that NASRDA has now trained over 300 staff to PhD or BsC level
edition.cnn.com...
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Now before we start braying about , poor people and problems of wars , political strife , corruption etc, lets remember the U.S was sending it's astronauts during the 50ts -60ts a time of massive poverty , civil unrest and corruption.."Nixon.".not to mentioned fighting a cold war and hot wars around the globe, but the efforts payed off immensely plus boost to massive national ego stroking .

Some will say yeah but we did all that 50yrs ago so BFD..true but most African nations are 50yrs old, some a lot younger, I am certain many here are older than some of these nations.

Could the next lunar mission come from South Africa?

CNN Marketplace Africa covers the macro trends impacting the region and also focuses on the continent's key industries and corporations. (CNN)One small crowdfunding investment online, one giant leap for South Africa? At least that's the intention behind the Africa2Moon Mission which aims to muster enough money through internet donations to send a probe to the lunar surface within a decade. The project has been proposed by the Foundation for Space Development South Africa, a non-profit based in Cape Town that seeks to increase awareness around space education and research. By reaching for the stars (or moon, in this case), the idea is to energize the youth of South Africa and beyond and to boldly take the continent where its never gone before. "We aim to inspire, to educate and then once the mission has started up, to do research and science," the organization's chief executive, Jonathan Weltman, told CNN. The mission's website proudly states that the probe could even be programmed to beam pictures of the experiments it undertakes to classrooms all across Africa.
edition.cnn.com...

The great African space race A number of African nations have invested in space programs in recent years. South Africa, Nigeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt have all launched satellites to aid the likes of communications technology, navigation technology, agriculture, disaster management and mining. The likes of Ghana, Uganda, Angola, Ethiopia and Kenya have also voiced their commitment to follow suit with space programs of their own. On top of this, the Square Kilometer Array project in South Africa's Karoo desert will be the largest and most powerful radio telescope on earth when it comes online. Construction on SKA -- which some have compared to CERN's Large Hadron Collider -- is set to begin in 2018.

(CNN)For young people there is no limit, and in Addis Ababa dreams fly about classrooms with as much abandon as anywhere else in the world. Seventeen year-old Meron Mekonnen wants to be a particle physicist. Demekel Demto a rocket scientist. Dagem Teresse is interested in inventing things and wants to become a robotics engineer. Mekonnen is quick to note that Einstein was young when he published his Theory of Relativity, a 26 year-old university student. A single equation of his "changed the history of science," she points out: "I have plenty of thoughts..." Today's youth are always told to reach for the stars. But thanks to the country's first space observatory, some Ethiopians might just get there.
edition.cnn.com... ace-observatory/index.html

From the same article, Rwanda and the world's first Drone port, Rwanda is setting itself as the I.T hub for all of east Africa, infrastructure is being built as we speak.

why even post it. the replys will be less about science and more about race. thhe twitter-sphere is already a testament.

but, its a move in the right direction. this will help with jobs, infrastructure and importing other scientific minds to African like most countries been doing for ages.

originally posted by: odzeandennz
why even post it. the replys will be less about science and more about race. thhe twitter-sphere is already a testament.

but, its a move in the right direction. this will help with jobs, infrastructure and importing other scientific minds to African like most countries been doing for ages.

Well sometimes some folks will get take a peek and leave with something new.

Sweet!

I'm going to start a boxing gym in Botswana.

a reply to: Spider879

SnF for the cool thread! China and Russia are spear-heading the recent heavy investment(s) into Africa. China is gambling on African resources and if their bet pays off, the payday will be massive. Smart move, China..........

The real reasons why Africa is kept poor and incommunicado stems back to why they killed Qadaffi in the first place.

He was going to pay for an independent communication satellite for all of Africa, it was going to cost 400 million, Qadaffi was going to put up 300 million and he was going to do that in 2011, the year he was killed and his country decimated by NATO.

a reply to: intrptr

Exactly right.







and so Obama aided and assisted in the further impoverishing of the whole of Africa with his influence and actions against Qaddafi.
Imagine the irony of this, because realizing the irony and the crime done to Africa is too much to wrap the mind around, unless you know Obama very well and the things he is capable of.
He has done more to harm black people than the entire time span of the Ku Klux Klan ever even hoped to do.

a reply to: Spider879


If the 1960's was a time of "massive poverty" in America, I'll take some more!

a reply to: NoCorruptionAllowed

and so Obama aided and assisted in the further impoverishing of the whole of Africa with his influence and actions against Qaddafi.

Mostly a front man, Obama presides over nothing.

The video goes on to relate African nations wanted to start an AMF (African Monetary Fund) independent from the IMF, and start African National Banks that would support african nations, also independent of the world banking Cartel.

Qadaffi was spearheading these projects, helping organize the nations of Africa together to become independent from foreign influence.

The question remains how come Africa is so rich with resources and the people of Africa remain so poor?

Because forever the west has been colonizing these nations, subjugating them to reap the resources of oil, diamonds, gold and other metals, pitting them agains each other and people against each other within their own countries.

Thats why they killed Qadaffi.

I've been trying to dig into South Africa's military missile program in the 1980s, with Israeli cooperation -- but officially there ARE no records and veterans are dying off. In particular, I suspect one of their mid-range missile tests in 1981 was accidentally observed by cosmonauts on Salyut -- and written off as a UFO.

a reply to: Spider879

Now before we start braying about , poor people and problems of wars , political strife , corruption etc, lets remember the U.S was sending it's astronauts during the 50ts -60ts a time of massive poverty , civil unrest and corruption.."Nixon.".not to mentioned fighting a cold war and hot wars around the globe, but the efforts payed off immensely plus boost to massive national ego stroking .

Absolutely, it did wonders for American morale and really made everybody optimistic and proud. Almost as great as when Nancy Reagan bought new china for the White House State dinners. : o

I hope Africa's space program is successful, and will, er, live long and prosper.

A shame with all them starving orphans, AIDS epidemic, wars, genocide, Boko Haram, endangered species that they got the funds to go to space. How utterly useless, they can get gps and satellite coverage already with what is up there currently.

originally posted by: intrptr
a reply to: NoCorruptionAllowed


Thats why they killed Qadaffi.

They killed Qaddafi to aid the radical islamists in grabbing swaths of land in the middle east. They got Egypt same period for a short while, been trying like hell to get Syria and Iraq, and Obama thinks the Muslim Brotherhood is a milk and cookies club.

Someone at the UN probably thinks it is a great idea to have the middle east unified into one block like they are doing in Europe, only they are using radicals as baby steps to tear down the old.

a reply to: Spider879

The more countries starting their own space program the better. War, disease, famine... Education could be the silver bullet. By creating something an entire nation can be proud of is all positive in my opinion.

As far as wealth and what not I think that is a failed argument. We saw first hand India sending a probe into space at a fraction of what NASA spends. A people who are used to finding solutions based on their current predicament can apply that ability to a space program.

If anything it may well be the kick humanity needs to move beyond our petty differences and understand we are all human in the same boat facing the same issues.

a reply to: Xcathdra

And that's the era I should have been born into, when we took to the stars for the greatest adventure humankind will ever embarked upon.. I say sign me up so a guy named Scotty can beam me up.

originally posted by: TinfoilTP
A shame with all them starving orphans, AIDS epidemic, wars, genocide, Boko Haram, endangered species that they got the funds to go to space. How utterly useless, they can get gps and satellite coverage already with what is up there currently.

Here is why,^ the spin offs alone did wonders for the U.S we are much more better off because of it than not, like I said with all the problems we had back then and if a nation is going to make a grand statement or coming out party then better this than lighting off a Nuke.

a reply to: Spider879

Interesting.

I wish 'em luck.

If they are successful, the off shoots coming from this could be an incredible boost not only to Nigeria, but to much of Africa. ...and that is something to be most fervently hoped for.

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Spider879

Interesting.

I wish 'em luck.

If they are successful, the off shoots coming from this could be an incredible boost not only to Nigeria, but to much of Africa. ...and that is something to be most fervently hoped for.

There is no need for any of this. The money in research, development, deployment, infrastructure...it is all a cover for a ballistic missile program. They could pay pennies to the dollar to just hire a Russian rocket to put a satellite in space.

originally posted by: TinfoilTP

originally posted by: seagull
a reply to: Spider879

Interesting.

I wish 'em luck.

If they are successful, the off shoots coming from this could be an incredible boost not only to Nigeria, but to much of Africa. ...and that is something to be most fervently hoped for.

There is no need for any of this. The money in research, development, deployment, infrastructure...it is all a cover for a ballistic missile program. They could pay pennies to the dollar to just hire a Russian rocket to put a satellite in space.

But isn't it better to have your own and not be dependent on the Russikies or anyone else, and personally I hate the fact that we have to hitch a ride with them and not having our own since we mothball the shuttle.