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Originally posted by ChesterJohn
I am not so surprised at North Korea's move to test fire a new long range rocket.
But I was surprised at the medias lack of concern that it was more than a test. They did and it was confirmed by NORAD they did indeed successfully place an object into orbit.
here is the quote: The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, later confirmed that North Korea did appear to have put an object into space. "Initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit," NORAD said in a statement.
Read more: www.foxnews.com...
Now the question remains what did North Korea put into orbit?
Originally posted by ChesterJohn
I am not so surprised at North Korea's move to test fire a new long range rocket.
But I was surprised at the medias lack of concern that it was more than a test. They did and it was confirmed by NORAD they did indeed successfully place an object into orbit.
here is the quote: The North American Aerospace Defense Command, or NORAD, later confirmed that North Korea did appear to have put an object into space. "Initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit," NORAD said in a statement.
Read more: www.foxnews.com...
Now the question remains what did North Korea put into orbit?
Originally posted by dorkfish87
I've got a gut feeling we will find out what this mystery object is the hard way. How can we view planets orbiting distant stars but can't figure out what something in our orbit is?
Capacity
Payload to LEO 100 kilograms (220 lb) ? (possibly to a 250 km orbit with 90° inclination)[citation needed] (220 lb)
On December 12, 2012, the Unha-3 rocket was launched at 00:49 UTC (7:49 EST). The U.S Northern Command said that the first stage of the rocket fell into the Yellow Sea, while the second stage was assessed to had fallen into the Philippine Sea and confirmed that an object had entered orbit.
Designation Date Launch Site Payload Remarks
Unha-1 4 July 2006 Tonghae Unknown Failed early in flight, possibly intended to be suborbital
Unha-2 5 April 2009 Tonghae Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 Failed to reach orbit
Unha-3 13 April 2012 Sohae Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Failed to reach orbit
Unha-3 12 December 2012 Sohae Second version of Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Successful launch. ...
S.Korea military official cited 3 stage success. DPRK confirmed.
North Korea said the satellite would estimate crop yields and collect weather data as well as assess the country's forest coverage and natural resources. It also said the satellite weighed about 100 kilograms (200 lb) and that its planned lifetime was about two years. Inside a room at the launch facility, reporters were allowed to see the satellite.
Orbital elements
Semimajor axis 6,921 km (4,301 mi)
Eccentricity 0.0065
Inclination 97.4°
Apoapsis 584.18 km (362.99 mi)
Periapsis 499.7 km (310.5 mi)
Orbital period 95.50 minutes
The first stage of the rocket splashed into the Yellow Sea, the second stage dropped into the East China Sea, and the final stage plunged into the Pacific east of the Philippines, all as planned.
The Japanese government said the rocket had passed over Okinawa, south of the Japanese mainland, but said it had not followed through with earlier threats to shoot it down because there was no threat from rocket debris.
North Korea said its satellite had been successfully placed into orbit.
"The launch of the second version of our Kwangmyongsong-3 satellite from the Sohae Space Centre... on December 12 was successful," the Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said.
"The satellite has entered the orbit as planned," it added.
OTV-1's second mission, the third X-37B mission overall, was originally scheduled to be launched on 25 October 2012, but was postponed because of an engine issue with the Atlas V launch vehicle. On 11 December 2012, OTV-1 was launched successfully from Cape Canaveral.