North Korean Rocket Launch

[CommonMan]

Actually, Explorer 1 discovered the Van Allen radiation belts, so you can't say it did nothing much

"The discovery of the Van Allen Belts by the Explorer satellites was considered to be one of the outstanding discoveries of the International Geophysical Year.

The acoustic micrometeorite detector detected 145 impacts of cosmic dust in 78,750 seconds. This leads for a twelve-day period to an impact rate of 8.0 × 10-3 impacts m-2 s-1.[19]"

Thanks for that correction, I guess I mixed Explorer 1 to Sputnik 1 that did little else than kept sending tiny beeps over the radio. Perhaps it played some music too.

The Russians put sputnik 1 in orbit, not us.
http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/

But Explorer 1 actually had precision instruments and detectors onboard.

 

[aphh]

> The Russians put sputnik 1 in orbit, not us.
> http://history.nasa.gov/sputnik/

Yes, but I didn't realize that Explorer 1 was already much more advanced satellite than it's Soviet counterpart.

 

[slidelock15]

Somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but if I remember correctly..... The last launch broke up during boost phase. This launch broke up during boost phase. If you wanted to deny NK missile sales, how about doing a shootdown and keeping quiet about it. No reliable launches, no sales. Even the Japanese could have done it.

 

[vattas]

how about doing a shootdown and keeping quiet about it.

It's not possible to be quiet about it. Interceptor would be easily detected on NK radars and radars of any nation that cares to watch the launch...

 

[nimbus]

Would a non-projectile intercept like the ABL be detectable? Does anyone know if it's feasible to salvage the parts that fell in international waters?

 

[venator_3000]

CNN has an image that is being distributed by a nuclear non-proliferation group. It shows the rocket launch.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/0 ... index.html

I believe this was taken by Digital Globes GeoEye 1 remote sensing satellite.

My only question about the NK cover story of the communication satellite is: What would the world's most isolated nation want with a communications satellite?

Oh, well.

V3K

 

[CalliArcale]

CNN has an image that is being distributed by a nuclear non-proliferation group. It shows the rocket launch.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/asiapcf/0 ... index.html

I believe this was taken by Digital Globes GeoEye 1 remote sensing satellite.

My only question about the NK cover story of the communication satellite is: What would the world's most isolated nation want with a communications satellite?

Oh, well.

V3K

Same thing the USSR wanted with Sputnik 1 -- undeniable proof to all the world that they have orbital launch capability, which theoretically puts ICBM tech within their grasp.

Random factoid: Sputnik 1 wasn't very sophisticated, but give 'em a break -- it was developed in less than a month! And I mean less than a month between "hey, let's build Sputnik" and "liftoff". It was a damn good rapid development effort. ;-) It was done because the "spaceship Sputnik" (scheduled to carry a live dog) was experiencing delays. THat spacecraft was in turn conceived because the massive one-ton scientific spacecraft that was originally envisioned was experiencing delays. After getting Sputnik 1 up, the Soviets were able to successfully launch their doggie spaceship (Sputnik 2, carrying Laika) and their massive scientific probe, so it's not like we were totally kicking their butts on a technological level.

 

[wubblie]

how about doing a shootdown and keeping quiet about it.

It's not possible to be quiet about it. Interceptor would be easily detected on NK radars and radars of any nation that cares to watch the launch...

How about an electromagnetic pulse as it is flying overhead to disable the staging electronics?

 

[trailrider]

Actually, Explorer 1 discovered the Van Allen radiation belts, so you can't say it did nothing much

"The discovery of the Van Allen Belts by the Explorer satellites was considered to be one of the outstanding discoveries of the International Geophysical Year.

The acoustic micrometeorite detector detected 145 impacts of cosmic dust in 78,750 seconds. This leads for a twelve-day period to an impact rate of 8.0 × 10-3 impacts m-2 s-1.[19]"

Thanks for that correction, I guess I mixed Explorer 1 to Sputnik 1 that did little else than kept sending tiny beeps over the radio. Perhaps it played some music too.

But Explorer 1 actually had precision instruments and detectors onboard.

Sputnik I had a pronounced effect...far greater than what it did on orbit...it scared the dog out of us! It disabused the Eisenhour Administration of depending solely on Vanguard to put an American satellite into orbit! It also had a profound effect on our education system...everyone raising a hue and cry asking how these crude, backward Russians could have done such a thing! The following year, for example, the National Science Study Committee of the National Science Foundation put together a high school physics course (which was really basic quantum mechanics). My high school put it in in 1959, and they were mailing (no faxes to speak of in those days) it to the instructor weekly...on mimeographed sheets! I have the final, hardcover version published later, and more widely distributed.

Nothing in the space field since then has caused such a reaction among the general public. Interestingly, the thinking was that if the Soviets could launch a satellite, no matter the size, they must have an ICBM. In point of fact, they did not just then, as Korolev (sp?)...then known to the outside world only as "The Great Designer" had not whipped the re-entry heating problem, and persuaded Nikita Khruchev that this would intimidate the Free World! It did, of course, but the long-term result wasn't what the Reds expected! As had been the case back then, Americans "got it in gear"! I'm not sure we have the same psyche anymore!

Ad LEO! Ad Luna! Ad Ares! Ad Astra!

 

[venator_3000]

South Korea plans orbital flight in July

From the KARI English language site: http://www.kari.re.kr/

Lee Joo-jin, president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, told a Washington audience late last week that the first Korea Space Launch Vehicle (KSLV-1) is scheduled to launch a 100-kilogram satellite into LEO in July.

The liquid oxygen/kerosene rocket will lift off from the NARO Space Center on Oenaro Island in southwest Korea on a mission to orbit the country's second Science and Technology Satellite (SCISAT-2).

Based on previous South Korean micro-satellite technology, SCISAT-2 will carry the Dual-channel Radiometers for Earth & Atmosphere Monitoring (DREAM) instrument, and the Laser Reflector Array (LRA). DREAM is designed to measure Earth's brightness, while the LRA will allow precise measurements between the spacecraft and a ground station.

They plan to deploy their second type of launch vehicle around 2017. Under South Korea's space-development legislation, a lunar orbiter would come in 2020, with a lander to follow in 2025.

It was just a year ago yesterday that Yi So-yeon, a South Korean woman, spent 10 days on the ISS after launching on a Russian Soyuz. http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Fir ... f_999.html

Looks like the North Koreans have a bit of catching up to do. I remember in the late 70s and early 80s the USSR was ferrying "guest" cosmonauts into orbit. These included a Vietnamese and a Cuban. I cannot remember if any North Koreans went along.

V3K

 

[CalliArcale]

Re: South Korea plans orbital flight in July

The Intercosmos program included guest cosmonaut slots on Soyuz taxi flights; later, the program was continued in exchange for political favors or financial considerations. No North Korean ever flew on one of these flights; the Soviet relationship with North Korea had long since deteriorated. No Chinese ever flew on one of those flights either.

However, a South Korean has flown into space more recently aboard a Soyuz. Yi So-yeon flew to the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-12, and returned aboard Soyuz TMA-11 (which famously experienced a module separation problem resulting in a ballistic return). She remains the only Korean to have gone into space. It is somewhat ironic that the only Korean who ever flew into space aboard a Soyuz taxi as a guest cosmonaut was from the capitalist nation of South Korea, and that her flight was arranged through commercial channels.

 

[MeteorWayne]

From Spaceflightnow:

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0904/10northkorea/

Excerpt:

"New details emerging from the analysis of data from North Korea's April 5 Taepo-Dong-2 test indicate the vehicle flew successfully several hundred miles further than previously believed and used more advanced steering than has been demonstrated by the North Korean's before.

The rocket impacted as far as 2,390 miles from the launch site as opposed to about 1,900 miles as earlier announced by the U. S. and Japan.

Smoke puffs from the side of the vehicle at the moment of liftoff and after, indicate the rocket could have been equipped with attitude control thrusters.

It also temporarily flew in space before failing and dropping back into the atmosphere at relatively slow speed that enabled debris to survive till impact rather than burning up. ...

See article for more

 

[silylene]

Carefully watch the video here, the first 5 secs http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwxXedvvDpQ

I see no evidence of attitude control nozzles, so I am puzzled by this claim. And why would they fire this early, before any motion of the rocket itself?. To me it looks like a loose joint between stages, and the rocket nearly failed catastrophically.

Unfortunately, I cannot freeze frame and upload to this forum. But watch the video, you will see what I meant.

 

[tanstaafl76]

Could that be a puff of ice crystals when a launch clamp was released?

 

[drwayne]

"And why would they fire this early, before any motion of the rocket itself?"

I have seen programs in which all of the divert jets will have an initialization pulse right out of the cannister.

Wayne