Tag: space launch

It is pretty clear that the Kim regime came clean on the failed space launch in order to legitimize North Korea as having a space program instead of a front to improve their ICBM capabilities:

This photo released Thursday by North Korea’s official Korean Central News Agency shows its Chollima-1 rocket, carrying a spy satellite, takes off from an undisclosed location in North Korea the previous day. Yonhap

North Korea’s unusually prompt admission of the failure of its purported reconnaissance satellite launch shows the regime’s effort to characterize the project as a scientific endeavor and not part of its missile program as suspected by Seoul, Washington, Japan and many other governments, according to experts, Thursday.

Less than three hours after Wednesday’s failed rocket launch, North Korea admitted the failure and vowed in a message to the world to step up efforts to place a new one in orbit soon, although it did not disclose the botched attempt to its own people.

“The regime appeared to highlight that it has the technology required for a satellite launch and it is sincere about that effort, providing a counterargument against claims that it was just part of its weapons program,” Cha Du-hyeogn, a senior researcher at the Asan Institute for Policy Studies, a think tank, said. 

“North Korea would need to justify the rocket test as some countries are expected to push for additional sanctions or resolutions through the U.N. Security Council.”

Korea Times

You can read more at the link.

These systems that send out emergency notifications over text message may be more trouble than they are worth:

These images show mobile phone alerts sent out in the wake of North Korea’s launch of what appeared to be a space launch vehicle on May 31, 2023. (Yonhap)

The Seoul city government on Wednesday erroneously sent out an emergency alert advising citizens to prepare for evacuation after North Korea’s launch of what appeared to be a space launch vehicle.

The mobile phone alert was sent to all Seoul citizens at 6:41 a.m., shortly after the Joint Chiefs of Staff said North Korea fired what appeared to be a space launch vehicle. But the interior ministry retracted it at 7:03 a.m., saying the alert was sent by mistake.

“We inform that the alert warning issued by the Seoul Metropolitan City at 6:41 a.m. was an erroneous issuance,” the interior ministry said in a separate mobile phone alert.

A ministry official said that Seoul is not an area where an alert has been issued.

The Seoul city government said it was looking into why the alert was set off.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but at least people in Seoul are so desensitized to North Korean missile launches that they did not go into a mass panic like what happened in 2018 when a similar false text message missile alert was issued in Hawaii.

The only way the rocket North Korea is launching to put a satellite into space lands in Japanese territory is if there is a failed launch causing debris to land in the southwest islands. Japan has their military ready to respond to if that possibility happens:

The Defense Ministry in Tokyo

Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Monday ordered the Self-Defense Forces to prepare to destroy a North Korean missile in case it falls within Japan’s territory.

The order, effective through June 11, was issued after North Korea notified Japan of its launch plans.

At a hastily convened press conference on Monday morning, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno referred to the possibility that the rocket could pass over Japan’s territory, including the Nansei Islands that span Kyushu and Okinawa Prefecture.

Matsuno condemned North Korea’s planned launch, calling it a “serious provocation.”

The SDF are expected to respond to the situation by mobilizing Patriot Advanced Capability-3 (PAC-3) units deployed in the Miyako, Ishigaki and Yonaguni islands in Okinawa Prefecture, as well as deploying an Aegis destroyer equipped with Standard Missile-3 (SM-3) interceptor missiles to the East China Sea.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida told reporters at the Prime Minister’s Office on Monday morning, “A launch using ballistic missile technology is a violation of U.N. Security Council resolutions and a serious matter concerning the safety of the people.”

Yomiuri

You can read more at the link.

Congratulations to South Korea for the successful launch of their Nuri rocket:

Flight trajectory of Nuri

South Korea on Thursday successfully launched its homegrown space rocket Nuri to put eight practical satellites into orbit, achieving another milestone for the country’s space program.

The 200-ton Nuri, also known as KSLV-II, blasted off from Naro Space Center in the country’s southern coastal village of Goheung at 6:24 p.m., and successfully completed its flight sequence, according to the Ministry of Science and ICT and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI).

“Following the success of the second launch of Nuri last year and the third launch today, we have confirmed the flight performance of Nuri, not only confirming the reliability of Nuri, but also confirming our potential for launch services for various satellite operations and space exploration,” Science Minister Lee Jong-ho said in a briefing.

He also said that the main satellite, NEXTSAT-2, has made its first communication with Korea’s King Sejong Station in Antarctica.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but this successful launch will put further pressure on North Korea’s scientists to try and match this performance with their upcoming space launch.

With North Korea preparing their own rocket launch it would be embarrassing for the ROK if this launch fails. So it is best to not take any chances and double check everything before launch:

South Korea decided Wednesday to postpone the launch of its space rocket Nuri due to a technical glitch found during final preparations, the science ministry said.

“While controlling a helium valve, aerospace engineers found a communications problem between a launch control computer and a launch pad facility control computer,” Vice Science Minister Oh Tae-seog said in a briefing at the Naro Space Center in Goheung. “The valve is OK, but the system might matter when it goes into the automatic operation system. So we inevitably canceled the scheduled launch.”

The engineers detected the problem at around 3:30 p.m., just before they were to start injecting fuel and oxidizer into the rocket.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link, but ROK officials are still determining if they will be able to launch the rocket with its 8 satellite payload either today or later in the week.

It looks like Kim Jong-un is making sure we are building up to another “crisis” on the peninsula with his expected space launch:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un inspected the country’s first military reconnaissance satellite and gave the green light for its next action plan, Pyongyang’s state media said Wednesday, adding that the satellite is “ready for loading” on a rocket. 

Kim made the on-site inspection to the Non-permanent Satellite Launch Preparatory Committee a day earlier to check the overall status of the spy satellite and approved of its “future action plan,” the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said, in a move that signals the launch could be imminent.

“After acquainting himself in detail with the work of the committee, he inspected the military reconnaissance satellite No. 1 which is ready for loading after undergoing the final general assembly check and space environment test,” it said in an English-language dispatch.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

Well it looks like we know what North Korea’s next provocation is going to be:

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un (R) and his daughter, known as Ju-ae, visit the North’s space development agency on April 18, 2023, in this photo released by the North’s official Korean Central News Agency the next day. (For Use Only in the Republic of Korea. No Redistribution) (Yonhap)

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said Pyongyang has completed building its first military spy satellite and ordered final preparations to launch the satellite as planned, the North’s state media reported Wednesday, in a move that is expected to further heighten tensions on the Korean Peninsula.

Kim made the remarks during an on-site inspection to the North’s space development agency a day earlier, as Pyongyang has vowed to complete preparations of the launch of a military spy satellite by the end of this month, according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.

This announcement may be an attempt by the Kim regime to set conditions to test an ICBM over Japan and claim it is a space launch. This gives their defenders in Moscow and Beijing a reason to defend them after they conduct a thinly veiled ICBM test at a nominal trajectory unlike their prior tests which were all lofted trajectories:

North Korea has conducted an “important final-stage” test at its rocket launching facility on putting a military reconnaissance satellite into orbit, with a plan to complete preparations for the project by April next year, according to its state media Monday.

The test was conducted at the Sohae Satellite Launching Ground on Sunday mainly to “evaluate the capabilities of satellite photography and data transmission system and ground control system,” according to the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA).

The country fired a vehicle carrying a “test-piece satellite” at a lofted angle to an altitude of 500 kilometers, an unnamed spokesperson at the National Aerospace Development Administration said in a statement carried by the KCNA.

North Korea will “finish the preparations for the first military reconnaissance satellite by April, 2023,” the official said, adding the results of the test were immediately reported to the central military committee of the ruling Workers’ Party of Korea.

Yonhap

You can read more at the link.