{"id":9514,"date":"2024-01-24T15:35:48","date_gmt":"2024-01-24T15:35:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=9514"},"modified":"2024-01-24T15:35:48","modified_gmt":"2024-01-24T15:35:48","slug":"two-nations-a-horrible-accident-and-the-urgent-need-to-understand-the-laws-of-space-right-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/topat10.com\/?p=9514","title":{"rendered":"Two Nations, a Horrible Accident, and the Urgent Need to Understand the Laws of Space Right Now"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Representing Xenovia, the Leiden team took full responsibility for the explosion but said their client repossessed Candidia\u2019s satellite in full accordance with the Outer Space Treaty. Having given notice to the Candidian company that it was late on payments, they argued, the Xenovian creditor had satisfied the treaty\u2019s requirement for \u201cappropriate international consultations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Katsande felt as if she was hearing a rough version of her own winning argument thrown back at her. After about 15 minutes of deliberation, the panel of three judges had their decision: They found in favor of Xenovia, which meant that Leiden had won. Katsande felt the European team had been given more time to speak. But what she also thought was, \u201cWe picked the wrong side.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the competition was over for the Midlands team, Coach Moyo took the group to McDonald\u2019s. Then the students went to a presentation about ZimSat-1. The coach, who had been drawing frequent basketball analogies throughout the trip, remembered a quote from Kareem Abdul-Jabbar: \u201cYou can\u2019t win unless you learn how to lose.\u201d<\/p>\n

Even so, the team had come incredibly far since the days when they were nonchalant about the competition and indifferent to space. \u201cWe really wanted to win,\u201d Katsande told me. \u201cI don\u2019t think you understand how much we wanted to win.\u201d<\/p>\n

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