Breaking News! North Korea successfully launches satellite into space! and us as targets!

[ctiger2]

//

[Bruno]

From Drudge:


The object that North Korea sent into space on Wednesday appears to be “tumbling out of control” as it orbits the earth, U.S. officials told NBC News.

[AFPVet]

North Korea isn't much of a threat lol... unless you count that out of control satellite a threat since it could land anywhere

[nobody's_hero]

I hate to bust Kimmy's bubble but, I found this video on youtube. Maybe if their crappy little 3rd world country had internet, they'd have seen the video and maybe could have saved themselves a lot of money on an already obsolete missile program.

[nobody's_hero]

Missile defense technology has come a long way. Not meaning to start a debate on Israel here, but you have to respect this sort of technology:



Easier to see at night:



What pisses me off is that we could have some really awesome stuff if we'd stop spending so much money on other countries and instead focused on further enhancing our own defense (and I mean actual *defense*) technology.

[tangent4ronpaul]

He added that no unusual movements had been spotted in the North Korean military, which the South monitors via satellites.

SK has sats?

South Korea Postpones Satellite Launch Oct. 26, 2012
http://www.nti.org/gsn/article/south...rocket-launch/

Timeline of first orbital launches by country
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timelin...hes_by_country

Failed launches
South Korea first attempted the launch of its STSAT-2 satellite to be delivered by the Russo-South Korean Naro (KSLV-1) launch vehicle from their own Naro spaceport on 25 August 2009. One of the payload fairings did not separate causing STSAT-2 not to reach Earth orbit. The second launch also failed within 137 seconds when it lost contact with ground control on June 10, 2010[3]

Future projects
South Korea will continue its space program including two series of space launchers

I didn't think so...

I wonder who's sats they are using...

Lawmakers rebuke S. Korean defense chief over intelligence capability
http://english.yonhapnews.co.kr/nati...16600315F.HTML

Asked why Kim did not take any action to fix the reports he saw inaccurate, the minister said it is a "protocol" not to disclose information jointly acquired by intelligence assets, such as from satellites, to media.

That looks like ours...

From Drudge:


The object that North Korea sent into space on Wednesday appears to be “tumbling out of control” as it orbits the earth, U.S. officials told NBC News.

Air Force sends mystery X-37B mini-shuttle back to space (Update 2)

http://phys.org/news/2012-12-air-mys...tle-space.html

December 11, 2012 <== the timing, the timing...




The military isn't saying much if anything about this new secret mission known as OTV-3, or Orbital Test Vehicle, flight No. 3. In fact, launch commentary ended 17 minutes into the flight and a news blackout followed. But one scientific observer, Jonathan McDowell of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, speculates the spaceplane is carrying sensors designed for spying and likely is serving as a testbed for future satellites. He dismisses rumors of "exotic ideas" for the X-37B as weaponry or shadowing a Chinese satellite. While acknowledging he does not know what the spaceplane is carrying, McDowell said on-board sensors could be capable of imaging or intercepting transmissions of electronic emissions from terrorist training sites in Afghanistan or other hot spots. "All the sorts of things that spy satellites generally do," he said.

...

The two previous secret X-37B flights were in 200-plus-(300-plus)-mile-high orbits, circling at roughly 40-degree angles to the equator, as calculated by amateur satellite trackers. That means the craft flew over the swatch between 40 degrees or so north latitude and 40 degrees or so south latitude.

North Korea, Coordinates
40.2012° N, 127.2565° E

First comment... (posted Dec 11th)

What are the chances this shuttle was also designed to covertly take out foreign satellites, if need be?




-t

[tangent4ronpaul]

EMP Nightmare: How Iran or North Korea Could Destroy America with a Single Bomb



EMP Attack : What Happen's if America gets Hit ?



Forget the media spin about NK being able to nuke Japan or SK. If you can get something into orbit, it can just sit there for years and then black out any technology dependent area, anywhere on earth.

Missile defense shields will not help you defend against this kind of attack.

-t

[Vanilluxe]

I say its time to bomb Pyongyang!

[tangent4ronpaul]

http://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=39026

KWANGMYONGSONG 3
Single tracking
Track it now!
Predictions
5 day predictions
Multi tracking

Add it on your tracking list

Your tracking list

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NORAD ID: 39026
Int'l Code: 2012-072A
Perigee: 505.3 km
Apogee: 588.3 km
Inclination: 97.4 °
Period: 95.4 minutes
Semi major axis: 6917 km
Launch date: December 12, 2012
Source: North Korea (NKOR)
Comments: KWANGMYONGSONG 3 is a North Korean Earth observation satellite, which according to the DPRK is designed for weather forecast purposes, and whose launch is widely portrayed in the West to be a veiled ballistic missile test.

(click through for map)

Two Line Element Set (TLE):

1 39026U 12072A 12348.13998536 .00132868 00000-0 79618-2 0 86
2 39026 097.4079 037.0445 0060014 166.9718 193.2822 15.08861468 172

Source: AFSPC

NASA's NSSDC Master Catalog entry for KWANGMYONGSONG 3
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/...g?sc=2012-072A

==========

http://www.n2yo.com/satellite/?s=39025

OTV 3 (USA 240)


NORAD ID: 39025
Int'l Code: 2012-071A
Launch date: December 11, 2012
Source: United States (US)

(Click through for map)

Two Line Element Set (TLE):



Source:

NASA's NSSDC Master Catalog entry for OTV 3 (USA 240)
http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/database/...g?sc=2012-071A

========

http://www.spacetoday.net/

Atlas launches X-37B on third mission
Posted: Wed, Dec 12 6:09 AM ET (1109 GMT)

An Atlas V successfully launched on Tuesday a classified military spaceplane. The Atlas 5 501 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 1:03 pm EST (1803 GMT) carrying an X-37B on the Orbital Test Vehicle 3 (OTV-3) mission. The launch, which took place despite forecasts that called for only a 30 percent chance of acceptable weather at launch time, was declared a success by the Air Force, although it released few other details about the mission. The launch is the seconde for this particular X-37B, which first flew in space on the OTV-1 mission in 2010. The Air Force has not disclosed the missions of any of the three X-37B missions, leading to speculation that the vehicles are performing roles range from technology demonstration to reconnaissance.

^^^^^^^^ hmmmm...



=========
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1212/12northkorea/

"North American Aerospace Defense Command officials acknowledged today that U.S. missile warning systems detected and tracked the launch of a North Korean missile at 7:49 p.m. EST (0049 GMT; 9:49 a.m. local time Wednesday)," said a statement released by NORAD, a military command which tracks air and space traffic.

NORAD said it tracked the missile on a southerly azimuth. The 100-foot-tall rocket blasted off from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station, a remote facility northwest of Pyongyang and about 35 miles from the Chinese border city of Dandong.

"Initial indications are that the first stage fell into the Yellow Sea," NORAD said. "The second stage was assessed to fall into the Philippine Sea. Initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit. At no time was the missile or the resultant debris a threat to North America."

North Korea's state news organization said the Kwangmyongsong 3 satellite entered its "preset" orbit following launch.
...
U.S. military assets tracked three objects in orbit from Wednesday's launch. The items are likely the Kwangmyongsong 3 satellite, the Unha booster's third stage, and a payload attach fitting, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics and an expert who tracks space activities.

According to McDowell, one of the objects was in an orbit between 307 miles and 365 miles above Earth, with an inclination of 97.4 degrees.
...
Wednesday's satellite launch carried a second version of the Kwangmyongsong 3 satellite, which North Korea says is outfitted with communications gear. Amateur satellite trackers are listening for radio signals from the North Korean spacecraft.

==========
USSTRATCOM statement on PRNK launch
http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Dec-2012/0097.html

USSTRATCOM statement on N-Korea launch:

http://www.norad.mil/News/2012/121112b.html

Indeed says an object reached active orbit:

****

NORAD and USNORTHCOM Public Affairs
December 11, 2012

PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. - North American Aerospace Defense Command
officials acknowledged today that U.S. missile warning systems detected and
tracked the launch of a North Korean missile at 7:49 p.m. EST. The missile was
tracked on a southerly azimuth. Initial indications are that the first stage
fell into the Yellow Sea. The second stage was assessed to fall into the
Philippine Sea. Initial indications are that the missile deployed an object that
appeared to achieve orbit. At no time was the missile or the resultant debris a
threat to North America.

=======
RE: X-37B OTV 3 elements
http://www.satobs.org/seesat/Dec-2012/0117.html

Greg Roberts has reported new observations, made more than 24 h after his initial ones:

http://satobs.org/seesat/Dec-2012/0116.html

Here are updated elements:

OTV 3 344 X 360 km
1 39025U 12071A 12347.75067673 .00007083 00000-0 50000-4 0 08
2 39025 43.4961 131.6234 0012090 326.6599 33.3515 15.73007644 07
Arc 20121211.78-1212.8 WRMS resid 0.014 totl 0.007 xtrk

The rate of decay is a guess, but this TLE should be fairly accurate, until it manoeuvres.

Ted Molczan

======

Note that there is NO conformation that the NK sat is unstable and wobbling.

^^^^ This is what happens when tangents get bored...

-t

[Vanilluxe]

Bomb Bomb Bomb Bomb Pyongyang....

North Korean Style!