First Kazakh satellite into orbit

[Posteritatis]

BBC:

Kazakhstan has launched its first communications satellite, entering the ranks of the space-exploring nations.

The unmanned KazSat-1 satellite was launched from the Baikonur space centre in the west of the country.

. . .

The know-how now is Russian, but Kazakhstan is already training its own cosmonauts, and plans to build its own satellites in future, as well as providing satellite launch services for other countries.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/5092460.stm

[LifeDuringWartime]

1. it's nice i like!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borat

[PittPoliSci]

2. ROFLMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

:thumbsup:

[AngryAmish]

4. She died, in a field...

[daleo]

3. This also indicates ICBM capability

If you can launch a satellite, you can launch a warhead. I wonder if they still need Russian help, or if they have licensed the technology?

On edit - The article indicates a lot of Russian involvement still. I guess Bush won't like it, since the neo-cons were trying to peel away the central Asian republics from Russian's sphere of influence.

[Posteritatis]

5. Meh. "ICBM capability" is a red herring

Building a rocket with the throw weight to put something into orbit's comparatively easy. It's just expensive, which is why most people piggyback their satellites on other countries' launchers. There's a big difference between that and carrying something as sensitive as a nuclear warhead onto a tiny target area from thousands of miles away on short notice.

I don't get the insistence that everyone's putting up telecommunications satellites simply to distract from the fact that they're really planning to nuke someone. There really are shades of gray to this world; not everything every other country does is secretly a nefarious, militarist plot. The piece of news in that article is a Good Thing.

[daleo]

6. I am not saying this is a military conspiracy by Kazakhstan

Just pointing out that launching a satellite shows a country can launch an ICBM. Satellites are generally fairly light and sensitive, as are nuclear warheads, unless you are talking about putting up a cannonball, just for show. Inserting an object into orbit takes some directional capabilities, as does an ICBM. And a big enough H-bomb doesn't have to be all that accurate to kill a lot of people.

In this case I doubt they are doing anything more than launching a communications satellite. Canada has put many of these into orbit too, with U.S. (maybe EU now) assistance.

If North Korea launched a satellite, though, you can bet the Bushites would turn it into a 4 alarm fire in no time.

[htuttle]

7. Considering that one of the world's largest 'spaceports' is there....

...it's about time.

BTW, one of the reasons countries often want their own satellites is to avoid being pressured by others who have a monoply on the service.

A good example is the US and the GPS satellites. IIRC, Europe is going to launch (or recently has) their own GPS satellites, because in recent years, the US has been flicking on and off (or skewing the data delivered to) the civilian access to them every time it gets in a war. If you're trying to dispatch your delivery trucks in Munich using this data and it suddenly goes off without warning, you start thinking that you want your own satellite...

Technically speaking, the world doesn't need 5+ duplicate sets of GPS or telecom satellites, but geopolitical realities seem to make it necessary right now.

[Celefin]

8. The Galileo-System

...really isn't worth the effort, regrettably.
The EU let itself be bullied into conceding to the US the right
to jam the satellite signals, in 'case of an emergency'
whatever that means.

So Galileo may be nice and fun (and expensive), but the US
can wreak havoc with every navigational system that is tuned to Galileo.
Yay for sovereignty.
*sigh*

[htuttle]

9. Well, that's screwed up -- big time

So, anytime the US wants, they can basically shut off nearly all emergency first responder dispatching in Europe, even when using their own GPS satellite?

Nearly every modern transportation dispatching system (everything from fire and police, to taxicabs, to livery trucks) relies on GPS data. Without it, you may has well have nothing but a steel board and magnets (though you'd be even worse off, since many of your dispatching staff never worked using the 'old' way).

Yes, that's screwed up.

[Posteritatis]

10. As Celefin said...

the world probably does need multiple duplicate sets of GPS and telecom sats, if just to ensure-and-I-mean-ensure access to them. (And, on a less cynical level, redundancy can't hurt anyway; near-Earth space is crowded at some times of the year.)

And of course, you're absolutely right on it being about time Kazakhstan started having their own stuff in orbit. Baikonur's not the best site for a port, but it's as good of one as the CIS is likely to get anytime soon, which isn't to sneeze at.

I've always wondered about whether countries sitting on the equator itself have ever bounced around the idea of setting up shop for launches, especially considering they'd be the most fuel-efficient (and thus largely the cheapest) possible locations to do that.