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Space Science

Nigeria Joins the Space Age 58

Posted by michael from the starting-small dept.
nuke-alwin writes "The Age is reporting that Nigeria has joined the space age by sending a satellite into space from Russia. The satellite will be used for environmental monitoring and to keep an eye on oil pipelines."
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Nigeria Joins the Space Age More

Nigeria Joins the Space Age

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  • Confidential proposal (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday September 27, 2003 @06:20PM (#7074305)
    As a former high-ranking official of Norwegian space program I was able to secure some funds that government wanted to spend on more advanced space technology. I am pleased to offer honest and hard-working Slashdotters an amount of $50,000,000.00 (FIFTY MILLION US DOLLARS AND ZERO US CENTS) transferred to the bank account of their choice. Please leave your names, addresses, phone number, bank account and social security numbers (for tax purposes) as a reply to this thread. Ten of the highest-moderated replies will receive $5,000,000.00 (FIVE MILLION US DOLLARS) each.
  • shouldnt taht read: In soviet russia the space age joins nigeria ?

  • greetings!!!! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Unknown Poltroon ( 31628 ) * <unknown_poltroon1sp@myahoo.com> on Saturday September 27, 2003 @06:25PM (#7074327)
    i am writing you from the nigerian space ministry. you have been reccomended to me as a vey honest rocket scientist. i need your help to retirieve an unclaimed satelite!!! if you could send me your current space shuttle, fully fueled, i promise to award you half of the satelite for your assistance. this is of the utmost confidentiality due to the senistve nature of......
    • i am writing you from the nigerian space ministry. you have been reccomended to me as a vey honest rocket scientist. i need your help to retirieve an unclaimed satelite!!! if you could send me your current space shuttle, fully fueled, i promise to award you half of the satelite for your assistance. this is of the utmost confidentiality due to the senistve nature of......


      I am very offended by your post and I am quite sure Nigerians everywhere would be too. Quit being so stupid and insensitive to post
  • Shouldn't they rather point it at their own country, trying to prevent women from beein stoned to death ?
  • launched from Russia? So they couldn't/wouldn't do it on their own? Does launching a satellite into space with the aid of Russia really qualify as joining the space age?

  • Cue (Score:3, Insightful)

    by isorox ( 205688 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @06:53PM (#7074425) Homepage Journal
    Cue dozens of posts about how Nigeria should concentrate on fixing its own problems on earth before launching into space
    • Cost of the satellite: 13 million.

      Poor population head count: 132 million.

      For a annual cost of 10 cent per head, I think it is worth the science they are going to get out of it, never mind the publicity and feel-good factor.

      Woww.. Think about all the things you can get for an extra 10 cent. It will definitely save the poor's problem.

    • Re:Cue (Score:3, Insightful)

      by stefanlasiewski ( 63134 ) *
      The satellite can be used to help fix Nigeria's problems.

      Many of Nigeria's social problems have roots in environmental problems. You can more effectively combat soil erosion, drought, deforestation, fires, etc. if you can see the big picture, in combination with other strategies.

      Space faring nations use satellite technology all the time, imagine how hard it would have been to prepare for Hurricane Isabel if we couldn't track it using our satellites.

      Also, there should be some more imediate economic payoff
    • ya, because raping a woman, than killing her for getting pregnant out of wedlock by way of a PUBLIC STONING deserves a backhanded joked from you. What a prick.

      I mean honestly, woman were oppressed, beaten, raped, and killed, in this(and many other countries), yet you, sir, have the gull to joke about posters who think Nigeria should fix problems at home(oppression, murder, etc.) rather than put a damn satelite up in orbit...

      *shakes head*

  • Muslims in space. (Score:3, Funny)

    by fruity1983 ( 561851 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @07:06PM (#7074479)
    Good stuff, now maybe that dolt Bush will have a reason to get up there again.

  • Amazing (Score:5, Funny)

    by metalhed77 ( 250273 ) <`andrewvc' `at' `gmail.com'> on Saturday September 27, 2003 @07:23PM (#7074555) Homepage
    Great job nigeria, but i'm afraid it's too late to reach alpha centauri as the The russians have already launched their spaceship 70 turns ago. With a 100% survivability rating, it seems the russians will win despite the American's higher civilization score.
    • A blitzkreig to moscow should to the trick. A few diplomats up the railroad to get zone of control, followed by some armors, and take them by surprise.

  • And now, the rest of the story (Score:5, Informative)

    by utahjazz ( 177190 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @07:28PM (#7074571)
    The linked article is missing the last 3 paragraphs, included in the Washington Post version [washingtonpost.com]:

    The NigeriaSat-1 was produced by British-based company, Surrey Satellite Technology, with the help of Nigerian technicians trained in Britain, Olaniyi said.

    The Russian Kosmos-3M rocket that lifted off from Plesetsk Cosmodrome with NigeriaSat-1 carried five other satellites with it - two from Russia, and one each from Turkey, Britain and South Korea.

    A team of 15 Nigerian scientists and engineers will control their country's satellite from a ground station in Abuja during its five to seven year life-span, Olaniyi said.
  • Everyone who post his lame soviet russia joke in this thread is wrong. The truth is this:

    In soviet russia you spam former nigerian presidents...

    Now beat this.

  • Money laundering scam (Score:5, Funny)

    by macdaddy357 ( 582412 ) <macdaddy357@hotmail.com> on Saturday September 27, 2003 @07:58PM (#7074697)
    So, this is what all the money they raised with those scam emails was used for.
    • The money raised from those scams were actually used for something else (read personal decadence). This was sponsored from selling oil (from dead dinosaurs = fossil). This while not a giant step is a step forward meaning less money going to the pockets of thieves in government. All you fools that are making fun remember that the literacy is not a western invention. Besides I am a Nigerian sysadmin supporting dumb Americans making dumb decisions. I dont complain so dont too

  • I AM NOT IMPRESSED (Score:4, Insightful)

    by PD ( 9577 ) * <slashdotlinux@pdrap.org> on Saturday September 27, 2003 @11:16PM (#7075364) Homepage Journal
    Nice with the satellite, but Nigeria has a long ways to go.

    A woman who committed adultery was spared death by stoning [google.com].

    Yep, they were going to bury her up to her neck and have people throw rocks at her head until she was dead, because she had a baby out of wedlock.

    And, get this one: the religous court decided that since children can take up to 5 years to develop in the womb (!!!) it was possible that she conceived the child with her husband, so on that ground they let her live.

    So, nice with the satellite, but I just am not impressed. Not even one little bit.
    • Not only was she not stoned, it was in a rural area where anyone conected with satellite construction is unlikely to be. This is as irrelevent as saying in any post about anything in the USA "what about those guys locked up in Cuba?"

      There are a lot of things wrong with the world, and we can't fix them all overnight. Putting a satellite over Nigeria will help fix a lot of current problems - incuding being able to spot oil spills caused by theives cracking a pipeline before the spilled oil gets far. If y

    • Okay, so Nigeria won't be entering the Federation any time soon.
    • Yep, they were going to bury her up to her neck and have people throw rocks at her head until she was dead, because she had a baby out of wedlock.

      Of course here, in civilized West, noone does anything so barbaric. Everybody has a right to live, so we only make them wish they were dead.

    • These laws were bought in democratically by the local government in nothern Nigeria. The people voted for these laws and now they have them.

      Also, I assume you know nothing about Shariah law, because it requires that there are 4 witnesses to the deed that the defendent has been accused of. This was the virdict handed down:

      In an hour-long hearing, the panel said Lawal was not caught in the act of adultery and wasn't given enough time to understand the charges against her.

      It also cited procedural erro

      • Not ignorant at all. I don't know of any argument in favor of stoning that will be persuasive.

        I'm an atheist, and all religious law is barbaric. That anyone would democratically vote for religion to control the law is ignorant.

        I don't believe in your god, nor his laws. Valid for all values of 'your'.

  • By "Nigerian" they mean... (Score:3, Informative)

    by THotze ( 5028 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @11:41PM (#7075446) Homepage
    Read the article. Appearantly, this satellite was developed by a British company (for what seems to be a really good price) with some "British-trained Nigerain scientists".... it seems to me like the Brits made a sattellite with some Nigerians either on the team or managing or staring through a glass window... who knows.

    I'm just wondering, when designing a satellite has been done by a group of college students, when there are university courses that you can take and more or less come out knowing how to make a basic satellite... how impressive is this, really? I'm sure that there are Nigerians (either people born Nigerian that immigrated or Nigerian citizens who were wealthy and just managed to get a degree and a job) who've worked on space/satellite projects before... how important is it really whose flag they paint on the thing?

    I think the real focus is on what benefits this could have for Nigerian citizens - the article mentions the possibilty of agricultural benefits (gathering information on climate/sources of water/land use? soil data?), as well as monitoring the oil pipeline - I don't know how effective this will be, but if it can save oil revenue and get it into the government, then this might have some solid benefits (Yes, I know that a lot of the $$ made never sees the starving masses, but, if it works as a percentage... any improvement is welcome). My only concern, then, is that there are other satellites already aloft that could have done the same thing - and Nigerian nationalism could have been fed just by constructing a ground station where the data would be downloaded (having more ground stations would help the satellite's primay user, as well) and evaluated - using Nigerian scientists and maybe even with Nigerian software.

    Just my $0.02 (Enough in Nigeria to buy a decent meal -- think about it.)

    Tim

    • Re:By "Nigerian" they mean... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by dbIII ( 701233 ) on Saturday September 27, 2003 @11:55PM (#7075501)
      how important is it really whose flag they paint on the thing?
      What is important is who gets to use it. Being able to spot oil spills earlier is a very good thing.

      Having been taught finite element analysis by a Nigerian I cannot take the usual patronising attitude to that country. Taking the attitude of the post above you could say there are a lot of Nigerian trained Australian and British engineers out there. Universities are mostly multicultural places - live with the idea or your job may go to India.

    • Actually, if I had to guess, this bit about watching the oil pipeline is probably the driving factor. However, Nigeria's poverty problems are due to a combination of continual war, and unjust payment.

      In a very real way, both of these problems are indicative but not proof of injustice by the oil companies. [This includes Chevron [bizjournals.com], one of Rockefeller's Standard Oil companies, but I'm not sure that Chevron is all it is.]

      Point being, if Nigeria has had a huge poverty problem before, they'll likely have it

  • Nigeria better launch site than Plesetsk? (Score:4, Interesting)

    by smithmc ( 451373 ) on Sunday September 28, 2003 @01:38AM (#7075809) Journal

    Nigeria's pretty close to the equator, innit? Maybe they could talk the Russians into building a launch site there for their shared use? Russia would benefit from the higher rotational velocity, and Nigeria would probably benefit in a number of more mundane ways (jobs, economic development, etc.)
    • Brazil would be better than Cape Canaveral for American rockets, and Indonesia better than Tanegashima for Japanese rockets. The economy of French Guayana has not boomed because ESA rockets are launched from Kourou. Most of the jobs a launch pad creates are for space engineers and other highly qualified professionals. It would take at least a decade before the Nigerian universities would produce any of those.

      Technically Nigeria is better, but politically Plesetsk. Control of launcher and space technology

  • Great... spam in space...

    Just what we need. :)

    Q.

  • come on guys, give them a break... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by tloh ( 451585 ) on Monday September 29, 2003 @02:03AM (#7082487)
    All the humor aside, I think fellow slashdotters are being just a bit condescending here. It isn't fair to jab the Nigerians for failing to take care of earthbound problems before tackling space. Look at us - we've been in space for decades but have arguably the lions share of social/economic inequities on earth. What other country hosts both the opulent decadence of Bill Gates and homeless vagrants who spend nights in city parks where you can just as easily get beat up for thrills by street gangs or freeze to death in the winter.

    Some have mentioned the harsh Muslim laws which has touched one poor woman's life in a very public way. They seem to have forgotten that we have a pair of ultra right Christian fanatics who initially said Americans suffered 9/11 because abortionists, feminists, homosexuals, the ACLU and others have upset God. And the priest who was convicted of murderings someone for performing abortions - didn't he publicly declare that he believes he will be welcomed in heaven for what he did?

    I can not condone the advanced fee fraud Nigeria is famous for, but if you are dumb enough to fall for it, maybe you deserved to learn the lesson the hard way. Perhaps us stock-market-speculating Americans have forgotten that money could be gotten the old fashion way - by earning it with honest work?

    Some point out that the endeavor is more British and Russian than Nigerian. But that is missing the point. I mean, what do you expect baby steps to be like anyway? John Glen didn't got to space overnight. He rode the coat tail of German rocket researchers who came to work for uncle sam after WWII, and the Germans had built upon the work of our own Robert Goddard. Can you imagine how few engineers there would be today if in their younger days, there was not the generosity or charity to provide them with that old crystal radio set or that clunky-but-still-functioning computer? It isn't wrong to ask or recieve help. You have to start somewhere right?

    Let us not forget that our own space program was priceless in stimulating so many good things. Aside from the obvious utilitarian benifits that the satellite offers by performing it's duties, it also gives the citizens something to look up to. (no pun intended) Maybe there will be a few less scammers as young Nigerians realize there are higher goals worth pursuing. Just to show that I'm not completely without humor, I for one welcome our new space-faring colleagues.
    • Just to show that I'm not completely without humor, I for one welcome our new space-faring colleagues.

      Sure you're humorous.

      You took a common slashdot joke and reworded it to fit the current story. Badly. As a matter of fact you mangled it so badly that all humorous aspects have been completely beaten out of it, as surely as if you had a Humorless Staff +3 of Beating in your right hand and a Ring of Silent Laughter on your left.

      Speaking of things you mangled in that post, how about the truth?

      I can no
      • sir, you are completely without common sense.

        Maybe there will be a few less scammers as young Nigerians realize there are higher goals worth pursuing

        that was the joke.

        Just to show that I'm not completely without humor, I for one welcome our new space-faring colleagues. ...followed by the straight man's retort.

        But that is beside the point. Let me ask you instead: how have *you* contributed to the discussion.

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