Posts Tagged ‘Satellite’

Kim Jong Il Watched ‘Successful’ Satellite Launch

Monday, April 6th, 2009
Kim Jong-Il in the center of his satellite control staff

Kim Jong-Il in the center of his satellite control staff

The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-Il, watched the successful satellite launch that took place yesterday.

Despite South Korean and US military sources suggesting that the rocket and its payload ditched in the Pacific Ocean, North Korea has given details on its satellite in orbit:

Unha-2, which was launched at the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground in Hwadae County, North Hamgyong Province at 11:20 on April 5, Juche 98 (2009), accurately put Kwangmyongsong-2 into its orbit at 11:29:02, nine minutes and two seconds after its launch.

The satellite is going round the earth along its elliptic orbit at the angle of inclination of 40.6 degrees at 490 km perigee and 1,426 km apogee. Its cycle is 104 minutes and 12 seconds.
KCNA, North Korean News Agency

North Korea Launches Satellite Rocket

Saturday, April 4th, 2009
The North Korean missile launch as seen from space

The North Korean missile launch as seen from space

North Korea at the top and South Korea, lit up, at the bottom.

North Korea at the top and South Korea, lit up, at the bottom.

North Korea launched its Satellite rocket at 2:30am GMT on April 5th. The launch has been strongly condemned by the international community.

Barack Obama called on North Korea to not provocate the situation anymore.

Some believe that the ‘Experimental Communications Satellite’ could be used for long range ballistic missiles.

North Korea spends most of it’s GDP on the military. Mobile phones are not allowed and all civilian communication is restricted to their own country, even then having limitations. It’d be interesting to see what ‘peaceful purpose’ the communications satellite has – if any.

No North Korea Rocket Launch on First Day

Saturday, April 4th, 2009
North Korea isn't rushing it's launch

North Korea isn't rushing it's launch

North Korea did not launch the rocket on the first day that it was due to launch, which leaves 3 more days to go.

The rocket is due to be launched 2am-7am GMT between 4-8th of April. The presumed reason according to a South Korean expert is that there were high winds at the area of the launch site which made conditions not ‘ideal’.

This also shows that North Korea is not rushing the launch, amid worldwide pressure to halt it.

Barack Obama said that North Korea will face ‘action’. (Diplomatic action to be precise.)

“Should North Korea decide to take this action, we will work with all interested partners in the international comunity to take appropriate steps to let North Korea know that they cannot threaten the safety and stability of other countries with impunity,”

Though, to be honest, this will probably pass with North Korea getting another round of diplomatic pressure such as sanctions unless someone decides to blast the rocket, which North Korea warned would result in war. If that scenario actually happened, then North Korea would have Japan, South Korea, and the US against it as they are the main nations involved in opposing the launch.

Though China has an old treaty with North Korea which states that as comrades they will come to the aid of each other. It’s difficult to say what China would do in such a situation but would they risk international criticism and isolation over a nation that is economically destroyed, politically unstable and unpredictable?

North Korea rocket being fuelled and has a Satellite attached

Thursday, April 2nd, 2009
Satellite images reveal the North Korean Launch Pad

Satellite images reveal the North Korean Launch Pad in Musudan-ri

North Korea has begun fuelling the rocket which is impending launch to put a communications satellite into space within the next few days, despite international calls for it to halt the launch. Final preparations are being made on the launch site, claims a senior US official.

The rocket will be ready for take off about 3 days after fuelling begins, say experts.

After the last Taepodong test failed, the UN drafted a resolution banning North Korea from ballistic activity, and Japan and the US insist that even Satellite launches are covered in the ban – but what does that matter in the eyes of North Korea..

Pyongyang says it will launch during daylight hours between this Saturday and next Wednesday.

Satellite images of the launch site seem to suggest that the rocket has been fitted with a satellite, coinciding with claims from North Korea that this is a satellite launch and not a missile test, as the US, Japan, and South Korea claim.

North Korean Missile/Satellite Launch Imminent

Tuesday, March 31st, 2009

North Korea is expected to launch a missile between 4th – 8th of April which it claims is to put a satellite in orbit.

The US and Japan are embraced for the imminent launch, which they believe is a cover for a test of the previously unsuccessful North Korean Taepodong-2 missile.

The US has stated that it will not intervene unless it deems it a threat to US territory (such as Hawaii) and Japan has it’s anti-air muscle out for defense purposes. Japan has followed a strict defense-only doctrine since the fall of it’s imperial ideology and shooting it down as an agression would be against the Japanese constitution. The Japanese military will only shoot debris falling towards Japanese territory which is not an unlikely situation as the previous test of the missile failed after a few seconds and the missiles path will actually pass over Japan.

It seems several countries are saying that this is a cover for a missile TEST and not a satellite launch, but what’d be the point of that unless it is using the attention seeking tactic. Can it not test these missiles over it’s own territory and not over other countries territories and possibly their civilian populations?

However, the concept of North Korea launching a harmless satellite is weak seeing as a large portion of its population is suffering from food shortages and the political ideology states that the military comes first. One would assume it’d be a military satellite, but who knows – we can keep guess – this is one of the wonders of the most secretive state in the world.

The likely outcome of this would probably be the usual all-round condemnation of the launch and the international communities grudge over this incident will probably be shrugged off in a short time as they have learned from past experience.

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