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February 10, 2016 2:21 AM Subscribe
That was an exciting article to me; I almost felt a wish that I could go there and be part of a young space program.
posted by Wolfdog at 3:51 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Wolfdog at 3:51 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
Oh, this is great! My grandfather has spent a lot of time in Ghana working on facilitating access to technology for education. He'd be thrilled to see this.
posted by teponaztli at 3:55 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by teponaztli at 3:55 AM on February 10, 2016 [2 favorites]
Sounds good, but Ghana is on the western side of Africa, meaning if they want launch rockets and get a free push from the Earth's spin, the rocket has to go east, over various other countries. That could be tricky.
But yeah, cool!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:19 AM on February 10, 2016
But yeah, cool!
posted by Brandon Blatcher at 4:19 AM on February 10, 2016
Oh excellent. Nigeria, Ethiopia, South Africa, even Uganda, all eyeing the stars at night.
posted by infini at 6:49 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by infini at 6:49 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
Sounds good, but Ghana is on the western side of Africa, meaning if they want launch rockets and get a free push from the Earth's spin, the rocket has to go east, over various other countries. That could be tricky.
Yeah. It's a non-optimal site for equatorial launches.
If they launched from the very SW point of the country, and shot for an orbital inclination of about 20°, they'd have about 1100km (700 miles) of water, 800km (500 miles) of it clear and then only having to worry about São Tomé and Principe. Launching into something
The Shuttle SRBs landed in the ocean about 240km (150 miles) downrange. By 700km, the Shuttle was close to an AOA capability.
However, that's the Shuttle -- which drops the SRBs early and the ET high and fast enough to burn up on the way down. The Soyuz first stage drops about 1500km downrange. But the Soyuz is an older design. They'd need to launch into a 45° inclination to get 2000km of ocean downrange, and that throws away all the advantage they'd have for being just off the equator.
They would have a good polar launch track.
That, of course, is assuming they'd launch from Ghana proper. The Russians are now leasing from the Guiana Space Center, which is at 5°N and has lots of Atlantic Ocean downrange for equitorial launches. Polar launches from Guiana work as well, but it's sort of silly for them to ship boosters across the Atlantic for a mission they could easily launch from home. Having two launch locations isn't an issue -- the US has two primary ones, KSC for equatorial and Vandenberg AFB for Polar, the Russians have two and lease time at Guiana as well.
In terms of just Geography, the place to be would in Africa would be on the coast of the Indian Ocean in Southern Somalia (which could be exactly on the equator) or northern Kenya, which would be very close. However, these would only be good for equatorial launches. Polar launches go over Madagascar or the Middle East.
posted by eriko at 7:16 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah. It's a non-optimal site for equatorial launches.
If they launched from the very SW point of the country, and shot for an orbital inclination of about 20°, they'd have about 1100km (700 miles) of water, 800km (500 miles) of it clear and then only having to worry about São Tomé and Principe. Launching into something
The Shuttle SRBs landed in the ocean about 240km (150 miles) downrange. By 700km, the Shuttle was close to an AOA capability.
However, that's the Shuttle -- which drops the SRBs early and the ET high and fast enough to burn up on the way down. The Soyuz first stage drops about 1500km downrange. But the Soyuz is an older design. They'd need to launch into a 45° inclination to get 2000km of ocean downrange, and that throws away all the advantage they'd have for being just off the equator.
They would have a good polar launch track.
That, of course, is assuming they'd launch from Ghana proper. The Russians are now leasing from the Guiana Space Center, which is at 5°N and has lots of Atlantic Ocean downrange for equitorial launches. Polar launches from Guiana work as well, but it's sort of silly for them to ship boosters across the Atlantic for a mission they could easily launch from home. Having two launch locations isn't an issue -- the US has two primary ones, KSC for equatorial and Vandenberg AFB for Polar, the Russians have two and lease time at Guiana as well.
In terms of just Geography, the place to be would in Africa would be on the coast of the Indian Ocean in Southern Somalia (which could be exactly on the equator) or northern Kenya, which would be very close. However, these would only be good for equatorial launches. Polar launches go over Madagascar or the Middle East.
posted by eriko at 7:16 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
Slightly older Ghanian aerospace news: the country's first female pilot, Patricia Mawuli, helped direct the group construction of the "One Week Wonder" aircraft at Airventure a year and a half ago.
posted by exogenous at 7:50 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by exogenous at 7:50 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
I probably shouldn't have such a soft-spot for state-led development projects, but this kind of news still always brings tears to my eyes.
posted by Stilling Still Dreaming at 8:03 AM on February 10, 2016
posted by Stilling Still Dreaming at 8:03 AM on February 10, 2016
I was just thinking the other day, "I wonder how good weather forecasting is in Africa, considering the millions we have to pour into satellite and computing power to get good weather forecasts here in North America."
I guess they were thinking the same thing a few years before I was. It seems like a vague, nebulous gain, but a huge number of people adjust their activity in a huge number of small ways when they have accurate weather forecasts, and it all - must? - add up to a big, diffuse gain overall.
posted by clawsoon at 8:09 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
I guess they were thinking the same thing a few years before I was. It seems like a vague, nebulous gain, but a huge number of people adjust their activity in a huge number of small ways when they have accurate weather forecasts, and it all - must? - add up to a big, diffuse gain overall.
posted by clawsoon at 8:09 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
I don't see any mention that they're trying to develop their own launcher, just their own satellites. I assume they'd buy the launch commercially.
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 8:09 AM on February 10, 2016
posted by rhamphorhynchus at 8:09 AM on February 10, 2016
Building a satellite for monitoring illegal mining operations is a surprisingly practical idea.
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 8:52 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by justsomebodythatyouusedtoknow at 8:52 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
That's artisanal mining.
posted by Etrigan at 8:59 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Etrigan at 8:59 AM on February 10, 2016 [1 favorite]
It seems like a vague, nebulous gain, but a huge number of people adjust their activity in a huge number of small ways when they have accurate weather forecasts, and it all - must? - add up to a big, diffuse gain overall.
The gains really aren't vague. You and I might just use the forecast to decide what to wear or when to travel, but the economic impact of accurate forecasting on agriculture alone is a seriously big deal, plus there are all the lives saved by early warning predictions of natural disasters (this was actually the whole plot of Twister, wasn't it?) The article mentioned floods and wildfires, which can be predicted with climate data.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:29 AM on February 10, 2016 [7 favorites]
The gains really aren't vague. You and I might just use the forecast to decide what to wear or when to travel, but the economic impact of accurate forecasting on agriculture alone is a seriously big deal, plus there are all the lives saved by early warning predictions of natural disasters (this was actually the whole plot of Twister, wasn't it?) The article mentioned floods and wildfires, which can be predicted with climate data.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:29 AM on February 10, 2016 [7 favorites]
Actually now I'm thinking about snowstorms, which is not so much a Ghana problem, but - in NYC we recently had a historic blizzard, so I went looking for info on other local historic blizzards. And in all of the ones from before the middle of last century, dozens and dozens of people died. In the modern ones, it's fewer than 10 and sometimes 0. And some of that's down to improved infrastructure, but most of it is simply because we knew it was going to happen and so didn't get trapped in it. Non-locally, there's the Schoolhouse Blizzard of 1888, so named because no one had any idea it was going to happen when they sent their kids to school that day. Over 200 people died in that one.
Every year when they forecast a blizzard and I hear people grousing about how meteorologists are always wrong and "hur hur I wish I could be wrong that much and still keep my job" I want to slap them. Meteorologists save lives.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:43 AM on February 10, 2016 [5 favorites]
Every year when they forecast a blizzard and I hear people grousing about how meteorologists are always wrong and "hur hur I wish I could be wrong that much and still keep my job" I want to slap them. Meteorologists save lives.
posted by showbiz_liz at 9:43 AM on February 10, 2016 [5 favorites]
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posted by Segundus at 2:32 AM on February 10, 2016 [3 favorites]