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    Botswana launches first satellite BOTSAT-1 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

    (spaceinafrica.com)
    395 points vinnyglennon | 22 comments | 26 Mar 25 16:02 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source | bottom
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    scrappyjoe ◴[27 Mar 25 05:46 UTC] No.43490681[source]▶
    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!

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    1. sokols ◴[27 Mar 25 09:57 UTC] No.43491886[source]▶
    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.

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    2. clarionbell ◴[27 Mar 25 11:29 UTC] No.43492491[source]▶
    Those in government right now certainly don't, or they don't care.
    replies(1): >>43492957 #
    3. alistairSH ◴[27 Mar 25 12:36 UTC] No.43492957[source]▶
    Where "those in government" is "Trump, Musk, and their minions", yep.

    The actual bureaucrats are mostly pissed off.

    4. blackoil ◴[27 Mar 25 13:47 UTC] No.43493620[source]▶
    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...
    5. StefanBatory ◴[27 Mar 25 14:02 UTC] No.43493791[source]▶
    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.
    replies(1): >>43493971 #
    6. Dracophoenix ◴[27 Mar 25 14:07 UTC] No.43493836[source]▶
    > 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.

    replies(1): >>43494533 #
    7. epolanski ◴[27 Mar 25 14:22 UTC] No.43493971[source]▶
    Radio Wolna Europa was the one that my parents and grandparents listened to more often in communist Poland.
    replies(2): >>43496109 #>>43497526 #
    8. thinkingtoilet ◴[27 Mar 25 15:02 UTC] No.43494386[source]▶
    As an American, I literally have no idea what Voice of America is.
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    9. itishappy ◴[27 Mar 25 15:11 UTC] No.43494484[source]▶
    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...

    10. bluGill ◴[27 Mar 25 15:11 UTC] No.43494487[source]▶
    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.
    replies(1): >>43494537 #
    11. itishappy ◴[27 Mar 25 15:15 UTC] No.43494533[source]▶
    Until 2012.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Defense_Authorization...

    12. ge96 ◴[27 Mar 25 15:16 UTC] No.43494537{3}[source]▶
    What do you think NHK is? Same thing but Japanese? It seems cool like people fishing for Ayu.
    replies(2): >>43495344 #>>43499332 #
    13. lawlessone ◴[27 Mar 25 16:36 UTC] No.43495344{4}[source]▶
    Could get that on cable in Ireland, i remember just leaving it on because it was just relaxing to listen to.
    14. hkpack ◴[27 Mar 25 17:51 UTC] No.43496071[source]▶
    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.

    replies(1): >>43501775 #
    15. omega1 ◴[27 Mar 25 17:54 UTC] No.43496109{3}[source]▶
    In my town (in Czechoslovakia), of the people of my generation, only those who listened to the BBC or VoA knew who the Vaclav Havel was, who became the first president after the fall of communism. I can't imagine the chaos that would happen if no one had any true information at the time of the fall of communism.
    16. mrguyorama ◴[27 Mar 25 18:01 UTC] No.43496179[source]▶
    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?

    17. jjtheblunt ◴[27 Mar 25 18:23 UTC] No.43496459[source]▶
    As an American, I wonder how you don't know.

    And therefore I am guessing it was more obvious pre Gorbachev/Reagan era.

    18. StefanBatory ◴[27 Mar 25 20:01 UTC] No.43497526{3}[source]▶
    I might have been mistaken on that one, I'll fully admit. I am not sure if it was Głos Ameryki or Radio Wolna Europa - but my comment applies to both of them, anyway.
    19. kalleboo ◴[27 Mar 25 23:14 UTC] No.43499332{4}[source]▶
    The difference is that public broadcasters like NHK, BBC etc are usually set up to be nominally independent from the government, usually through a license fee enforced separate from taxes.
    20. mmooss ◴[28 Mar 25 05:11 UTC] No.43501764[source]▶
    Out of curiosity, why VOA and not the BBC or something else?
    replies(1): >>43554358 #
    21. mmooss ◴[28 Mar 25 05:13 UTC] No.43501775{3}[source]▶
    Also there is/was Radio Free Asia.
    22. scrappyjoe ◴[02 Apr 25 07:13 UTC] No.43554358[source]▶
    This reply is quite late, but I thought I’d answer it anyway. When I was a child, I enjoyed the VoA more than the BBC Africa service, and when I was a teen my preferences swapped. I had never really thought about why before. And I had never really clicked that the VoA was a propaganda tool.

    My best answer is that listening to the VoA as a kid was just way more fun than the BBC. And maybe it being propaganda was a big reason for that. Stories were simple, there were good guys and bad guys, science was awesome and we might make it to Mars by the year 2000.

    As I got older, I started to see that things weren’t so simple, I wanted unbiased, or at least balanced, reporting about the region I lived in, and then BBC Africa took over.