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395 points vinnyglennon | 3 comments | | HN request time: 0.681s | source
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echoangle ◴[] No.43485519[source]
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.
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parsimo2010 ◴[] No.43486503[source]
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.

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1. echoangle ◴[] No.43486541[source]
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.
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2. hnuser123456 ◴[] No.43486659[source]
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.
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3. KennyBlanken ◴[] No.43487227[source]
It'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.