Africa will get a new $1B spaceport in Djibouti

https://qz.com/africa-will-get-a-new-1-billion-spaceport-in-djibouti-1849994821

by pseudolus • 3 years ago

32 40 3 years ago

rbanffy2• 3 years ago

I'm guessing mostly eastward equatorial orbit launches, because pretty much anything else will result in boosters falling on someone's backyard...

fooker• 3 years ago

We can safely assume that someone building a launch site has taken a moment to think about what can be launched from there.

rbanffy2• 3 years ago

It’s a very narrow corridor of water with lots of shipping routes in there. I’m sure they did the math, of course, and I’m not worried about the rockets.

tomatotomato37• 3 years ago

That's the most delta-v efficient launch path for any orbit that isn't at some sort of extreme inclination so it makes sense.

LatteLazy• 3 years ago

Brexit Britian also has a "new" "$1Bn" "Spaceport"

I say "new" because it was an existing, disused, runway.

I say "$1Bn" because no one has actually spent that, it's just the "value" in the government press release.

I say "spaceport" because it turns out any large open space with some concrete can be a spaceport if you want.

panick21_3• 3 years ago

A space port is mostly a road to an empty place with some tanks set up. But the real big effort is getting all the regulatory things managed, environmental and 'rockets'.

credit_guy2• 3 years ago

Don't you need some empty space (ocean or desert) downrange, just in case a launch goes bad, as it happened with Challenger ?

MikeDelta2• 3 years ago

It is not clear who will be paying for this, assistance to build as in expensive loans and building companies to be paid by said loans? There are pleny of high-profile projects like this that end up abandoned and the owner/operator in extreme debt.

bitxbitxbitcoin• 3 years ago

Is it unreasonable to think that they are hoping for Chinese investors?

MikeDelta2• 3 years ago

Not at all, if it were investors who want a return on the profits. However, many (all?) projects are financed with (expensive) debt, so poor countries end up with debts they cannot repay and 'vanity' projects they could do without. Some analysts worry that countries end up in a debt trap.

I would love it if this is turns out a healthy project for the benefit of all, but I remain skeptical.

killingtime742• 3 years ago

Let's come back when they actually launch something

cuteboy192• 3 years ago

Similar complains were made when ISRO was founded back in 1969. Your people cannot feed themselves so why the aspirations to go to the stars? But today it's quite successful and a value for money space agency compared to the relatively bloated NASA and ESA

killingtime742• 3 years ago

ISRO is an organization. This is just infrastructure with no organization behind it with a space program? ISRO is very impressive value for money, however India is one of the largest economies in the world. Djibouti is a country of 1.1 million people.

NicoJuicy8• 3 years ago

signed a partnership deal with Hong Kong Aerospace Technology to build a facility to launch satellites and rockets in the northern Obock region.

Yeah, sure. In 5 years we will know if it worked out and how the debts can't be repaid.

I'm wondering what will be asked in return... => One road one belt debt trap, all over again.

Luckily, Africa can repay China with natural resources or ports... In case of Djibouti ( where this will be build), it's the main ship access to the Indian ocean.

And the deal seems to be 25% of their GDP in 2018. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Djibouti

What a coincidence.

Edit: but let's hope for the best. Since it's more than 1 country participating in it. I have my doubts though, let's hope I'm wrong.

unity10018• 3 years ago

Getting something in return for trading something is not a 'trap'. Here's what actual Africans think about China:

https://www.quora.com/Do-Africans-dislike-Chinese/answer/Jea...

https://www.quora.com/Is-China-colonizing-Africa/answer/Anth...

'A trap' is what the Anglosaxon financial establishment did to my country: Forced us to privatize our national assets to starve our government of GDP so that the government will fall deeper in debt. Which is why that's called a 'trap' because you cant get out of it. So much that the government was totally deprived of revenue in merely a decade after having been forced to privatize all national assets through 'free market'. Then this was used to force the government to destroy labor protections and business regulations to 'boost the market', turning the economy and the society to scorched earth. But foreign investment did excellent in this environment, especially corporations located in the US and its satellites.

There is no such thing in any deals with China. It does not intervene in any country or its governance when making deals. You trade. You sign a deal to trade them X amount of minerals. They sign to give you whatever you want. That's it. No other conditions attached. They don't even make any commentary about your economy, leave aside your ideology, your system or how you should be doing things. That's why all the countries prefer China and BRICS instead of the US and its satellites now.

What's appalling is that how the very financial establishment that has been made famous as the 'economic hitmen' smears other countries of what it has always been doing and people like you repeat it without putting any critical thought into the process. No wonder you people are still paying for Iraq War Debt.

NicoJuicy8• 3 years ago

There is no such thing in any deals with China

Tell that to Lithuania ( delisted as a country by China), Taiwan ( a "province"), Tibet ( invaded), Hong Kong ( taken over), ...

Concerning debt trap. Are you aware that Africa is paying off debt for mostly Chinese workers/companies/contractors for those failed infrastructure projects? Bringing in almost no employment to Africans.

https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/how-chinas-ambitious-belt-an...

The thing you're forgetting is that China doesn't care about the countries and their inability to pay them back. They are interested in how they are getting paid back.

Eg. Ports in Sri Lanka, Zambia, Nigeria, ... https://www.africanliberty.org/2018/09/10/like-zambia-sri-la...

Bridge of 3,1 b$ for the Maldives - https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-52743072

Angola - https://theprint.in/world/angolan-model-viewed-as-early-exam...

I'm willing to wait to see how this all plays out and who is right here.

Are you?

Angola still owes China more than USD 23 billion, mostly from oil-backed loans. With declining production, this means that most of Angola’s output is going to China, preventing Africa’s second-largest oil producer from selling its major source of income on the open market.

PS. It isn't solely Africa, but also Australia and European countries ( mostly in the east ) already decided that it's better to not be in debt with China ( and they have gotten not pleasant suprises)

https://www.dw.com/en/cracks-appear-in-chinas-new-silk-road/...

PS. Ukraine also had a deal with China, they were even under a nuclear umbrella of China ( lol) during the "one road one belt" project. We can all see how that "protection" turned out.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/under-new-scrutiny-chinas-nucle...

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On top of this, your "links" only name 1 infrastructure project: "the Mombasa railway"...

Dare to do a sanity check?

https://www.voanews.com/a/kenya-wants-to-renegotiate-loans-f...

"It becomes impossible to be able to pay that loan by revenue that comes from the railways. And even in 50 years, it will not break even if you load the loans to the railways," Murkomen said.

Let's dig a bit deeper in the country.

https://www.wionews.com/world/kenya-discloses-loan-documents...

any major dispute over the railway would be decided in Beijing

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/china-may-seize-kenyan-asset...

China is willing to give those countries loans to repay those Chinese loans. But they do have higher interests and shorter repay terms...

Good luck.

SlickNixon4• 3 years ago

You sign a deal to trade them X amount of minerals.

The sharp end here is what happens if you don't come up with the minerals.

cuteboy192• 3 years ago

Both are true, both are traps. Eventually all the countries in extreme debt to China will be forced to vassalize. BRICs is dead, sorry. Two of these are nearly at war with each other every few months.

We should be able to consider that one thing being bad does not negate another thing from being bad. It is true that the US has been the big bad for a while now, but two can play at that game, it seems

noisycarlos• 3 years ago

Can't wait for the jokes when a penis-shaped object is erected in ya'booty.

Africa will get a new $1B spaceport in Djibouti

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