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North Korea Launches New Civilian Satellite Push
North Korea appears to have launched a broad project to develop civilian satellite technology and will meet quarterly to assess its progress. The project was disclosed last week when state media reported a “regular meeting” of the “Non-permanent Space Science and Technology Committee” (국가비상설우주과학기술위원회) was held at Kim Il Sung University in Pyongyang on March…
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North Korea’s new satellite caught on camera
A satellite hunter in The Netherlands has captured the first known image of North Korea’s Kwangmyongsong 4 (???4?) satellite in orbit. Marco Langbroek took the image on Feb. 28 as the satellite passed through the nighttime sky. The photo was taken with a 2-second times exposure and the satellite appears as the diagonal line running…
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Completed satellite command center revealed in TV images
North Korean TV recently broadcast the first video images of the activities surrounding the launch of the Kwangmyongsong 4 satellite. The images came in a 37-minute documentary called “경애하는 김정은동지의 령도밑에 지구관측위성《광명성-4》호 성과적으로 발사” (rough translation: Earth observation satellite Kwangmyongsong 4 successfully launched under guidance of respected and beloved comrade Kim Jong Un) that contained several…
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The slow search for Kwangmyongsong 4
Since just after it launched on Feb. 7, satellite monitors have been watching and listening for North Korea’s newest satellite but to-date, nothing. We know it’s up there. U.S. Strategic Command picked it up on its space surveillance system a few hours after it launched and published details of its orbit. Armed with that knowledge, satellite…
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Latest reports say Kwangmyongsong-4 is under control
North Korea’s Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite has stopped tumbling and is in a stable orbit, according to reports. On Monday, CBS News and CNN quoted unnamed U.S. government officials as saying the satellite was tumbling on its orbit, but reports on Tuesday say it’s stabilized. “They got the tumbling under control,” an unnamed official told Reuters. That’s an…
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Reports: Kwangmyongsong-4 tumbling in orbit
It might have happened again. According to a CBS News report that quotes unnamed “U.S. officials,” North Korea’s Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite is tumbling as it orbits the planet. CNN quotes “a senior U.S. defense official” as saying the same thing. There’s no word on how the U.S. came to this conclusion, but it was likely spotted…
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Rocket launch edition of Rodong Sinmun
Seldom do North Korean’s see such a colorful 3-page spread in the daily Rodong Sinmun newspaper as they woke up to on Monday. The front page carries a picture of Kim Jong Un signing the launch order for the satellite on February 6 — something that wouldn’t be reported by North Korean media until after…
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About those South Korean lawmaker’s comments on satellite weight
There’s some pretty startling and definitive comments being carried in the South Korean media, apparently uttered by Lee Cheol-woo of the ruling Saenuri Party after an intelligence briefing on Sunday. Yonhap quotes lawmakers as saying the National Intelligence Service told them the satellite is presumed to weigh 200 kilograms, double the estimate for the satellite launched in 2012. It…
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Here’s what we know about Kwangmyongsong-4 so far
North Korea’s Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite is up in space and orbiting the globe. The country’s media said the launch took place a 0030 UTC on Sunday — something that matched with detection of the launch at around 0031 UTC. The rocket appeared to keep largely to its intended path so the likelihood of success was good and U.S. Strategic…
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North Korea claims satellite success, US confirms object in orbit
North Korea says it successfully launched a satellite on Sunday morning and a U.S. military space monitoring system confirms it did put something into space. The launch of the Kwangmyongsong-4 satellite took place at 0030 UTC, according to state media, which said it entered its orbit 9 minutes and 46 seconds after lift-off. The satellite is the fifth that the…
