This is a really good technology demonstration for the ROK to have put a satellite into space with a solid fuel rocket from a barge:
South Korea successfully conducted a third test flight of a solid-fuel space rocket Monday, the defense ministry said, as part of efforts to build its independent space-based surveillance system against North Korea.
The space launch vehicle was launched from a barge floating in waters about 4 kilometers south of Jeju Island at 2 p.m. and placed a small Earth observation satellite into orbit at an altitude of about 650 km, the ministry said.
The 100-kilogram synthetic aperture radar satellite, made by Hanwha Systems, succeeded in sending signals to a ground station at 3:45 p.m., which means it is operating normally, the company said.
The rocket is designed to put a small satellite into a low Earth orbit for surveillance operations. Compared with liquid-fuel space vehicles, solid-fuel ones are known to be usually simpler and more cost-effective to launch.
The South Korean military has confirmed that the North Koreans did put a satellite into space, they just don’t know yet if it actually is transmitting anything:
This photo released by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency shows the launch of a rocket carrying a spy satellite, Malligyong-1, at Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province, North Korea, Tuesday. Yonhap
North Korea’s military spy satellite appears to have entered into orbit, but more time would be needed to determine if it is operating properly, Seoul’s military said Wednesday.
The North launched the Malligyong-1 satellite from the country’s west coast late Tuesday in its third attempt this year, claiming it has successfully entered into orbit.
“After a comprehensive analysis of its flight track data and other signs, the satellite is assessed to have entered into orbit,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said in a text message sent to reporters.
“However, determining whether the satellite is working properly will take time as additional analysis is required under coordination between South Korea and the United States and relevant agencies.”
In response to the satellite launch the ROK announced that it is suspending part of the 2018 Inter-Korean Military Pact they have with North Korea:
Seoul on Wednesday partially suspended an inter-Korean military agreement designed to ease tensions and decided to resume surveillance operations along the border with North Korea in response to Pyongyang’s launch of a spy satellite. The South Korean government said it was a “necessary measure” for self-defense.
At an extraordinary Cabinet meeting, Prime Minister Han Duck-soo said North Korea’s latest provocation ― and violation of the agreement ― shows it has no intention to comply with it.
“A partial suspension of the agreement is a necessary measure for national security and the minimum action for self-defense,” he said after endorsing the proposal. It was subsequently approved in less than an hour by President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is on a state visit to Britain.
It looks like the Russian assistance has paid off with the North Koreans apparently successfully placing a satellite into orbit:
North Korea said Wednesday it has successfully placed a spy satellite into orbit and will launch several more satellites “in a short span of time” to step up its surveillance capability on South Korea.
The state-run Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said that the North launched a reconnaissance satellite called Malligyong-1 on a Chollima-1 rocket from a launch site in Tongchang-ri on the country’s west coast at 10:42 p.m. Tuesday.
North Korean leader Kim Jong-un observed the launch at the site and congratulated officials, scientists and technicians associated with the launch preparations, according to KCNA.
“The carrier rocket ‘Chollima-1’ flew normally along the preset flight track and accurately put the reconnaissance satellite ‘Malligyong-1’ on its orbit at 22:54:13, 705s after the launch,” KCNA said in an English-language report.
You can read more at the link, but according to the Joong Ang Ilbo the rocket did fly on the typical southern trajectory that North Korea has used in the past for rocket launches. A J-Alert was issued in Japan’s Okinawan islands, but was lifted after the rocket passed over the islands.
Since the North Koreans will probably try and launch their rocket on a southern trajectory is will likely pass over Japan’s southern Ryuku Islands thus the reason for the notification:
North Korea has notified Japan of a plan to launch a space rocket between Wednesday and Dec. 1, Reuters reported Monday, as the recalcitrant regime is preparing for what would be its third attempt to put a military spy satellite into orbit.
The North apprised Japan’s Coast Guard of the planned launch in the direction of the Yellow Sea and East China Sea, according to Reuters.
South Korea has said Pyongyang may go ahead with the launch as early as “this week or so,” while urging the regime to “immediately” stop the launch preparations.
I guess we will see if the third time is the charm for the North Koreans to get rocket to work, this time with Russian assistance:
North Korea may launch its military spy satellite as early as “within a week or so,” South Korea’s defense minister said Sunday, citing intelligence of the North’s preparations.
Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said the launch could take place before South Korea launches its first indigenous reconnaissance satellite on Falcon 9, U.S. aerospace company SpaceX’s two-stage rocket, from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California on Nov. 30.
“South Korea and the United States are monitoring North Korea’s movements. North Korea’s preparations are under way for a launch to take place within a week or so,” Shin said in an interview aired on public broadcaster KBS earlier in the day.
I guess we will soon see if whatever assistance the Russians provided the North Koreans in exchange for weapons is sucessful or not:
North Korea is believed to be in the final stage of preparations to carry out what would be its third satellite launch after two failed attempts earlier this year, South Korea’s spy agency was quoted as reporting to lawmakers.
After its second attempt failed in August, the North said it would try again in October. But no such launch has happened, and the North has given no word as to why the launch has been postponed and when it will take place.
“North Korea is believed to be in the middle of the final stages of preparations, such as carrying out checks on its engines and launch systems,” the National Intelligence Service (NIS) reported to the parliamentary intelligence committee during a closed-door audit session, according to Rep. Yoo Sang-bum of the ruling People Power Party.
The prior rocket launch the U.S. and the ROK were able to recover much of the rocket. According to the article the North Koreans this time may have deliberately destroyed the rocket once it began to fail in order to prevent its recovery:
The United States is assisting the South Korean military in retrieving wreckage from North Korea’s failed reconnaissance satellite launch, a senior defense official told lawmakers Friday.
Seoul and Washington are working to salvage the space launch vehicle from the Yellow Sea and are analyzing the launch together, Heo Taekeun, chief of South Korea’s National Defense Policy Department, said at a televised hearing of the parliamentary National Defense Committee.
Neither Heo nor National Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup disclosed during the hearing how U.S. forces are contributing to the search. U.S. Forces Korea did not immediately respond to requests for comment by phone and email Monday.
The search for debris continued Monday, National Defense Ministry spokesman Jeon Ha Kyou told reporters that day.
The ROK has concluded that the North Koreans were trying to conduct a legitimate space launch with their rocket that crashed in the ocean back in May:
The salvaged wreckage of a North Korean space rocket is displayed on the deck of the ROKS Gwangyang at the Navy’s Second Fleet in Pyeongtaek, 60 kilometers south of Seoul, on June 16, 2023. (Pool photo) (Yonhap)
South Korea has retrieved a North Korean spy satellite wreckage and concluded it has “no military utility,” Seoul’s military said Wednesday, ending a 36-day operation to salvage the sunken debris of a failed North Korean space rocket launch in late May.
The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) said that the military raised multiple key parts of the rocket and the satellite through the operation that began May 31 and ended earlier in the day.
South Korean and U.S. experts have conducted a detailed analysis of the wreckage and found that the salvaged satellite debris has no military utility, the JCS said.
This shouldn’t be too surprising because it will likely be months before North Korea’s scientists are able to asses the data and repair whatever went wrong with their previous space launch. Additionally they likely have to build another satellite to put on top of the rocket:
The office of President Yoon Suk Yeol said Sunday it is not letting its guard down even though the window for North Korea’s satellite launch has expired, as the country can go ahead with a launch at any time.
North Korea had set a period between the start of May 31 and the start of June 11 as the window for a satellite-carrying space rocket launch. The country fired the rocket on the first day of the window, but the launch ended in failure with the rocket crashing in the Yellow Sea.
This would be a big intelligence gain for the ROK if they are able to salvage the second stage of North Korea’s failed rocket launch:
An apparent part of a purported North Korean space launch vehicle is seen in waters some 200 kilometers west of the southwestern island of Eocheong on May 31, 2023, in this photo provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. (Yonhap)
The South Korean military is still in an operation to retrieve a sunken part of a purported North Korean space rocket that appears to be the second stage of the ill-fated vehicle, Seoul’s defense chief said Thursday.
Defense Minister Lee Jong-sup made the remarks during a parliamentary session, as the Navy is trying to recover the 15-meter part that currently lies at a depth of 75 meters underwater in the Yellow Sea. The retrieval may take two more days, he said.
The North fired what it claims to be a satellite-carrying rocket Thursday morning, but it crashed into the sea due to the abnormal starting of the second-stage engine, the North’s state media said, in a rare acknowledgement of such a failure.
“We are continuing to trace the third stage and the payload,” Lee told lawmakers, noting the already identified wreckage appears to be the second stage of the rocket.
