North Korea's 5th satellite attempt-7th Feb 2016

[Hcube]

I don't really understand why people are glad the launch was successful Everyone knows what the north korean space program is for, and the launch itself is not any innovation... How is this a good news ? It's interesting at most.

[Hcube]

[snip]

This is getting very political, i suggest PM if you wish to debate a bit.

 

On topic : is the rocket solid or liquid fuelled ? From the pics i'd say solid but it's hard to say... 

[Kerbal01]

Yay, always good to see new players in space, even if they have nefarious purpose. I looked at a ground track, it passed near my house in the night. 

[Vanamonde]

The ethics of nuclear weapon use is outside the scope of this forum. Please save that sort of political argument for other websites. 

[Streetwind]

1 hour ago, Hcube said:

On topic : is the rocket solid or liquid fuelled ? From the pics i'd say solid but it's hard to say... 

 

Liquid, actually: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unha

Two hypergolic stages with a small kerolox uper stage on top. The rocket is kind of cobbled together from two or three different sources, mostly procured from the middle east (Scud-derived rockets and possibly parts of Iran's Safir roket).

Edited February 7, 2016 by Streetwind

[Ignath]

South Korea may have recovered some debris (looks like fairing, pics in the story) from the rocket:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/photo/photos-purportedly-show-north-korea-s-rocket-debris-n514451

It was found on the far southern portion of the Korean peninsula.

[Hcube]

1 hour ago, Ignath said:

South Korea may have recovered some debris (looks like fairing, pics in the story) from the rocket:

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/photo/photos-purportedly-show-north-korea-s-rocket-debris-n514451

It was found on the far southern portion of the Korean peninsula.

Looks very rugged for a fairing that launched two dans ago...

[Streetwind]

US intel claims that the satellite is tumbling in orbit, in a way that would render it "unable to perform any earth observation" (which is the satellite's declared goal).

I'm taking that with a grain of salt, considering the source can be seen as highly biased, but then again, space is hard. And we don't know anything about the satellite, or what attitude control systems it may (or may not) have.

[Rybo]

5 hours ago, Streetwind said:

US intel claims that the satellite is tumbling in orbit, in a way that would render it "unable to perform any earth observation" (which is the satellite's declared goal).

Civilian observers have verified that the satellite is indeed tumbling. Given the nearly perfectly polar orbit I think it's safe to say that the intended function was either IMINT or SIGINT, although I suspect they aren't yet capable of producing a SIGINT asset without some external help.

Given the tumble I doubt they are in communication with the bird though yielding it useless as an intelligence gathering asset. 

Edited February 10, 2016 by Rybo

[Evanitis]

5 hours ago, Streetwind said:

US intel claims that the satellite is tumbling in orbit, in a way that would render it "unable to perform any earth observation".

I'm lazy to check if it's the real deal, but one photo has leaked already. It looks promising, and shows how unreliable the intel of the capitalists is:

EDIT: I should apply for a job in NC as a State Astro-analist. With the proper funding I could prove that the Earth is a spiral, and it revolves around Mr Un's shining blue personality.

Edited February 10, 2016 by Evanitis

[insert_name]

what, how did that happen?

[fredinno]

On September 15, 2015 at 10:31 AM, Randazzo said:

Interesting expenditure of resources for a state facing an impending food shortage. Now they announce that they are restarting a nuclear fuel program (which I also doubt they can afford).

I suspect both are phony, and it's a play for concessions and aid.

Korea has little land for agriculture, so N.Korea bascially needs to get it through other means. Like aid.

On September 16, 2015 at 8:16 PM, jfleming104 said:

Anyhow, I cannot wait until Oct. 10. Rocket launches always excite me, and so do explosions. Even if NADA actually gets its satellite into orbit sans explosions, it will be good to see the Hermit Kingdom actually get something done involving rockets that does not, nor is meant not to explode. NADA and Kerbal have a lot in common.

North Kerbea.

[xenomorph555]

So they effectively put more junk in orbit, sigh. Kind of disappointed really, due to the fact that they have the rocket technology that would much better suited to a country that can actually build satellites. I would even be less disappointed if it was a sputnik bleeper, nope just dead; a waste.

In other news I found some VERY interesting photos.

1. the satellite

Nothing much to say here.

 

2. 3rd stage

Solid?

 

3. Engines

VERNIERS? This I was not expecting. Well I knew there were verniers but last time they were tiny things that made tiny adjustments, these have completely replaced the jet vanes.

[regex]

Looks almost like an RD-108...  Although, IIRC the Chinese have an engine that looks similar.

[xenomorph555]

Better images of the satellite.

[Rybo]

Intriguing. It's hard to gauge dimensions but I find it hard to believe that it weighs the quoted weight. UHF or VHF comms and camera equipment are pretty lightweight. I suppose the bus structure is pretty inefficient though since they are pretty early in the Satdev cycle.

Interestingly there are now claims that it has stabilized and a handful of observers have reported potential transmissions on 460-490Mhz. That's a pretty cluttered band though so infer what you will. Still no data downlink transmissions recorded in the S Band so as of now it's still just taking up..... space. Pun intended 

[fredinno]

21 hours ago, xenomorph555 said:

So they effectively put more junk in orbit, sigh. Kind of disappointed really, due to the fact that they have the rocket technology that would much better suited to a country that can actually build satellites. I would even be less disappointed if it was a sputnik bleeper, nope just dead; a waste.

In other news I found some VERY interesting photos.

1. the satellite

Nothing much to say here.

 

2. 3rd stage

Solid?

 

3. Engines

VERNIERS? This I was not expecting. Well I knew there were verniers but last time they were tiny things that made tiny adjustments, these have completely replaced the jet vanes.

Maybe the satellite just failed. The satellite actually looks like an actual sat,and not just some junk put up to test the rocket.

[Streetwind]

Today I learned: North Korea has better launch coverage than several of the more advanced spacefaring nations.

I didn't even bother to look for it, because I didn't expect anything, but no - they actually took the entire event, from rollout over countdown and launch all the way to orbit, with footage from onboard cameras and from the command center and all that jazz, made a six minute long video out of it, and slapped the whole thing on youtube. Yes, you can read that sentence again. And then find proof here. That one video shows more than the last, oh, 30 chinese launches combined, I think.

However, the video is also soaked in absurdly patriotic music and commentary. I don't speak Korean, so I don't understand what the woman is saying, but she sure seems to be about to faint from sheer patriotism. If the idea of that amuses you, go right ahead, but if you'd rather spare your ears, turn off your sound - or watch it over here (starting 11:15) to the soothing sound of some space geeks commenting the happenings.  

[Motokid600]

That's a very nice command center.

[Shpaget]

Is it just me or does the first stage seem to have some issues with guidance? Is looks as if it's oscillating left and right.

I'm talking about the later phase, 60 or so seconds before second stage separation.

Edited February 14, 2016 by Shpaget

[Streetwind]

Maybe they were steering with WASD, and the gimbals are all-or-nothing deals?

[Ignath]

4 hours ago, Motokid600 said:

That's a very nice command center.

Full of what appears to be Dell monitors.  Dude, they needed Dell!

[fredinno]

10 hours ago, Shpaget said:

Is it just me or does the first stage seem to have some issues with guidance? Is looks as if it's oscillating left and right.

I'm talking about the later phase, 60 or so seconds before second stage separation.

Duh, they were using the manual control since Mechjeb was sanctioned.

 

[RainDreamer]

Their control center looks like a remodeled auditorium and they just hook up computers there for look. Also, this guy:

 

He snuck a glance at the camera while clapping, his faced devoid of emotions or celebration as if asking, "Is this enough clapping?"

[insert_name]

Where did the north Koreans get Dell monitors from. I thought dell was in the U.S. and thus had to follow sanctions