Do you want to be space operator? Move to a poor country.

If you don’t mind taking lessons from the Chinese, and moving to Pakistan, Nigeria, Bolivia, or some other poor country, you too could learn all you could ever want about space operations.  According to SpaceDaily.com, China has realized that in order to increase the chances of their satellite export contracts being accepted and perhaps extended by these countries, they must train them in the field of space operations.

So they are.  The SpaceDaily post lists some of the training topics for aspiring space operators:  satellite operations, space technology, and engineering.  Bolivia currently has 78 trainees in one of the programs, which is named Tupac Katari and has been in place since 2010.  Nigeria and Pakistan also have had a few students in China.

Now if only they taught the advanced courses of things they seem to be good at, such as:  “Stealth Satellite Technology,” “Covert Space Maneuvers,” and “How to ruin space for everyone else by exploding debris everywhere.”  Those would be really interesting.

Is the United States of America doing something like this?  Would it even be allowed?  International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) have hobbled us in this regard so far.  Maybe the USA is in danger of being the world’s “that guy?”  By this I mean, we hoard our expertise in specific areas–in this case space operations.  So, we’re the know-it-all who’s not willing to teach others how things work.  And soon we become a global recluse, only conducting internal conversations, convinced of how great our expertise is?  In the meantime, everyone turns to China for training.  Just a thought.

Related articles

• Bolivia Increasing Trade Flow with the Heavens (semancha.com)
• China providing space training (spacedaily.com)
• China willing to open space station to foreigners (bigstory.ap.org)
• Pakistani space engineers and scientists getting training in China (terminalx.org)
• Bolivian delegation to witness satellite launch in China: president (nzweek.com)
• Pakistan wants role in China’s space station program (wantchinatimes.com)