North Korea's Satellite Is Out of Control 450
Koreantoast writes "After failing on numerous occasions, North Korea has finally put a satellite in orbit. But according to US officials, it is now 'tumbling out of control.' This is bad news, and more bad news, covered in a double layer of extra bad news. From the article: 'According to US officials, it appears that North Korea's new satellite has failed to achieve a stable orbit and is now "tumbling out of control." The greatest danger is the threat of it colliding with another satellite, adding to the growing debris field around the earth.' A separate Gizmodo article provides links for tracking the current location of the satellite."
send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:5, Funny)
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:5, Interesting)
I hear it has the capability to capture satellites. This should a good time to test it and make it public.
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:4, Insightful)
On a satellite with no attitude control, seriously?
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:5, Funny)
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small rocket + net + parachute. Navy waiting underneath. Hell, put a GPS transmitter and flotation in the package and you could pretty much bring anything out of orbit you wanted to as long as it didn't have its own propulsion.
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:4, Funny)
small rocket + net + parachute. Navy waiting underneath.
Why, so we can steal North Korea's advanced satellite technology?
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:4, Insightful)
you're assuming the purpose has always been to launch a satellite. if they were using this as a means of demonstrating their missile delivery capabilities, they view this as a great success.
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:5, Interesting)
On the flip side, if you can't get a satellite to not die on the way up, what makes you think the nuke's systems will survive?
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:4, Funny)
I'm not sure any one has achieved survival of a nuke when using it... /pedantic misreading
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
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Exactly a nuke isn't gonna be worth much if you can't even hit within 20 miles of your target, especially since what i read on their nuke tests had the thing about a little over half the Hiroshima bomb.
In a tactical sense that's true, but even with poor accuracy you wouldn't want one headed towards your country. The purpose of having ICBMs is not to use them, it is to deter the other guy from using them. Having lots is more important than having accuracy.
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Then we can take it to our secret volcano fortress where everyone wears jumpsuits. We just need to ninja and British agent proof it.
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But the old shuttles most certainly do. Assuming they can get one out of the museum and battle-ready in time, they could go up and capture it.
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if by 'in time' you mean 5-8 years? then no.
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Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:5, Interesting)
Assuming it's tumbling out of control, it has a predictable orbit and safe distance. Could they not maneuver the X-37B close to it with the main engine pointed towards the satellite (oriented in the direction opposite of the orbit), and fire the thruster, slowing down the satellite and hastening re-entry?
This is assuming the primary concern is that it shouldn't hit anything before re-entering, not the re-entry itself. After all, a random re-entry has incredibly low chances of doing any damage, while an in-orbit collision is pretty disastrous in terms of debris.
I would imagine that the X-37B would have to consume a great deal of fuel just to reach and match orbits with the satellite, if it were even possible.
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:4, Interesting)
Then again, if you were an out of control insane nation run by psychopaths and wanted to test an anti-satellite satellite against a real target, you would want to make sure it appeared like it was out of control too. Then it's all whoops, tee hee and pay me much money not to launch another one.
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:5, Insightful)
Among other things, the tallest structure in the country (a would-be hotel in the capital) was started in 1987, was originally intended to be completed by mid 1989 for some locally important event or another, and at this time is still not ready for use. They're currently hoping to _partially_ open the still-incomplete building in 2013, although one wonders where they think they're going to find enough tourists to fill a hundred-story hotel, even if they do ever finish it.
(Lonely Planet's writeup of the country is interestingly clever, particularly the way it manages to put excessive positive spin on things and yet still not make the country sound like an even remotely interesting tourist destination. The only landmark attraction they specifically mention is a mountain, which they call "one of the most stunning sights in North Korea", although they do also claim that the capital city has "a few sites worth visiting".)
Nobody in the Dilbert comic strip has ever approached North Korea's level of incompetence.
Comment removed (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:5, Informative)
Neither the "mini-shuttle" nor the retired shuttles are in a position to reach the orbit of the NK satellite. It is in a sun-synchronous orbit, which means its orbital inclination is near-polar. The current OTV-3 (mission name of the so-called mini-shuttle) is in an orbit of around 40 degrees, which makes it incapable of reaching the NK satellite's inclination, and no space shuttle ever flew in a polar orbit and nor had any plans/capability to do so after the Challenger accident.
If I had a nickel for every time I've seen someone propose that two satellites get together in orbit when such a thing is practically impossible, I'd be hundreds of dollars richer...
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:5)
"No it is testing new ion engines that actually allow for decent orbital delta V."
Citation requested, please.
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Start betting on where it'll land? (Score:2)
Not sure if there would be time to deploy the military shuttle thing... especially if this satellite starts dragging on the upper atmosphere.
The betting pool is now open as to where it'll re-enter. At 100kg or so, I'm not certain it'll survive the trip back down, but bits of it might.
Re:Start betting on where it'll land? (Score:5, Funny)
is the taco bell target still in the pacific? Mir didn't hit it but I still want that free burrito!
Re:Start betting on where it'll land? (Score:5, Funny)
I hope it lands back in North Korea so its citizens can get some return on their investment.
Re:Start betting on where it'll land? (Score:5, Insightful)
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Not sure if there would be time to deploy the military shuttle thing...
By amazing coincidence, they just launched the "military shuttle thing" -
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2246629/U-S-military-sends-mystery-space-drone-orbit---STILL-wont-tell-mission-be.html [dailymail.co.uk]
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the greatest threat is that it collides with another satellite and creates a debris field, so your solution is ... to blow it up?
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if the size of whatever we blow up the satellite with is less than the satellite it is likely to hit, then you would have less debris blowing it up. Also I would think the resulting debris field would be more contained. If it was from 2 high-speed large satellites they may wound each other enough to then have large obstacles aiming at more satellites...
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:5, Funny)
Its unclear if the new min-shuttle has offensive capabilities.
Of course it has offensive capabilities. The only country known to not arm its spacegoing vessels is Finland.
Re:send the mini-shuttle over there to wack it (Score:5, Funny)
the space shuttle orbiter was armed in the sense that it had an arm.
By Canada (Score:5, Funny)
Re:By Canada (Score:4, Funny)
For failing to comprehend the True Cosmological Glory that is Canada, you are hereby sentenced to be (appropriately enough) torn limb from limb by the newest Canadian space-robot, Dextre the Magnificent [nasa.gov].
Dear Leader's Satellite is So Advanced... (Score:5, Funny)
...it can cover multiple orbital trajectories while imperialist pig Yankee capitalist satellites are only capable of a single orbit.
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If they only had google they would have know how it was done.
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...it can cover multiple orbital trajectories while imperialist pig Yankee capitalist satellites are only capable of a single orbit.
Our spy satellites can cover multiple orbital trajectories too, and without exploding a few weeks after launch or burning up in the atmosphere. Oh, and you might want to get that mole on your back looked at; Our intelligence analysts think it might be cancerous. Or not. We're just saying, after spending so much money on surveillance watching your every move, it'd be a shame to waste the investment. By the way, kudos on your launch. No really, we mean that -- we're really impressed you can do that when most
Re:Dear Leader's Satellite is So Advanced... (Score:4, Funny)
I don't get it (Score:3)
North Korea should be able to do this. Rocket and satellite tech isn't that secret anymore. It's only a matter of engineering and money. They surely have the engineers and they have shown they can scrape together the money at the expense of their own people.
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hmmm... (Score:5, Interesting)
US launches secret space drone... NK satellite suddenly goes into an uncontrolled descent.
1 + 1 = ...
Re:hmmm... (Score:5, Funny)
Thus far, the score is 1 to 0
Secret US Space Drone: 1 and Flying Korean Unicorn: 0.
How can this be? (Score:5, Interesting)
If you're in orbit, you're in orbit. If your orbit is too low then it's a decaying orbit but "tumbling out of control" is a bit of hyperbole from the press. It might be harder to predict the re-entry if the satellite is spinning and has no attitude control; maybe that's what they mean. I suppose it's possible that it could strike that atmosphere and bounce before re-entering, but will it bounce high enough to impact something in LEO? Details please. I bet this is a tempest in a teapot; not that I condone NK's actions or think they're particularly smart.
Re:How can this be? (Score:5, Insightful)
"tumbling out of control" is a bit of hyperbole from the press
I would have to say "the greatest danger is the threat of it colliding with another satellite, adding to the growing debris field around the earth" is another fine example of that hyperbole. I mean, it's probably technically true. The odds may be infinitesimal, but still higher than the odds of any other danger.
Re:How can this be? (Score:5, Insightful)
You must not have seen space junk 3d
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUZO5pW7-5U [youtube.com]
http://www.space.com/14132-space-junk-3d-film-orbital-debris.html [space.com]
Because in it, they discuss at length, and 3d model, the 2009 collision of Iridium 33 and Kosmos-2251. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_satellite_collision [wikipedia.org] ) which most certainly did occur recently and definitely in our lifetimes.
Their thesis was that it will become more and more of a problem unless people start taking it seriously and not just writing it off as a one time fluke, as you are.
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Re:How can this be? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:How can this be? (Score:5, Insightful)
Tumbling out of control also means any directional antennae are useless. If you intend sending commands to the satellite though such an antenna then you might not be able to recover the ability to control the satellite.
The North Korean people aren't just hungry, they are starving en-masse. And the leadership is all into putting its tiny foreign earnings into dick swinging activities like this (achieving what Russia and the US did decades ago). The DPRK really is the most criminal and totalitarian regime out there.
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It's also doing a fantastic job of brainwashing their people. Lots of them blame the Western world for their problems. There was a NPR story years back where an embed noted that if there's a power outage, the typical reaction from people is to blame it on some anti-infrastructure American campaign. I've always said that dictators are the highest form of politician because they've got to maintain an iron grip on power with nothing as helpful as royal blood or divine right to keep the people on their sid
Re:How can this be? (Score:5, Interesting)
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Satellite AI 1: I'm receiving a transmission, but it appears to be in Morse Code.
Satellite AI 2: Who cares! Wheeeeee!
ASAT (Score:2)
It may not be stupidity (Score:3)
Re:It may not be stupidity (Score:5, Insightful)
Or, it was designed to be a simple parabolic missile, but NK test firing a missile is banned by the UN, so they pack in enough fuel to get to orbit, any kind of orbit, and there was never a plan to make it a stable orbit nor were there thursters on board to do so. In other words, a missile test disguised as a orbital launch.
Re:It may not be stupidity (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:It may not be stupidity (Score:5, Funny)
do you have any idea how f'ing busy I am, Hans Brix??
Re:It may not be stupidity (Score:4, Interesting)
The UN in general /can/ agree on Syria, it's just that Russia and China have their vetoes on the Security Council and used them to protect the Assad regime. Why? My theory is geopolitics: Russia is trying to keep a friendly government near its southwestern flank and head off US/NATO gains in the region, and possibly they're trying to keep Islamists off said flank lest the plague spread into their territory.
China's just wanting to cock-block us so we don't get too powerful, and maybe they've got some lucrative trade going on, or would like to.
Re:It may not be stupidity (Score:4, Interesting)
I liked that theory at first, but then I took a look at the orbital parameters... It seems to be almost pefect sun-synchronous orbit. Public experts where holding reaching sun-synchronous orbit out of reach impossibility for NK given the need to launch it at such an angle as not to have spent stages fall on ground where they could be construed a hostile action.
I'm sure we'll hear more on this in the coming hours, but it looks to me like they must've spent a lot of effort and risk on reaching sun-synchronous orbit (one conductive for earth-observation, such as spy or weather-satellites which NK claimed it would be). It doesn't seem credible that they would've done that just for a ballistic missile test and dummy payload. Also something about the way most news-sources quote the "tumbling out of control" seems to give up the impression they believe it initially had attitude control, though to be honest I'm curious to hear how they would determine when it had or didn't have attitue control.
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Because they had to be able to go to the moon to launch an ICBM, seems legit.
Re:It may not be stupidity (Score:4, Informative)
someone modded this up?
they went to the moon for the whales. everybody knows that.
ooh (Score:2)
Looks like it is headed for S. Korea in about 10 minutes - this should be fun. Of course, it might have done that already and I just missed it; the orbit track only goes back about 1 orbit (~90 min).
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On another note - anyone know of a similar tool that lets you view the orbit/track in 3D? It would be cool to watch, and would give a much simpler to understand view of the eccentricity etc.
Connecting... (Score:2)
The tracker just says "Connecting..."
That can't be good.
So what does the world do about it? (Score:2)
Re:So what does the world do about it? (Score:4, Funny)
I could see several scenarios in which this leads to war with North Korea
Tom Clancy... is that you?
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Recall the fun the US had with http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaxy_IV [wikipedia.org]
Finding out your telco are not really a network with some redundancy, more one point of profit vs risk.
A US weather satellite? Lets hope some smart people can list what kind of sats are near the same zone.
The US will always fund the funding for a spy sat, no need to worry about that.
Unique telco, science could be a real issue if anywhere in the same region????
Re:So what does the world do about it? (Score:4, Insightful)
Just hold on a moment.
Okay, look. North Korea are not the world's nicest people from what we know, either to their southern neighbour or (far more commonly) their own people. Let's just get that out of the way right now.
But seriously. Seriously. "Takes them out"? A Korea War II would be extremely costly for the western world and over what? A satellite that, worst case, smashes into one of the US Military's satellites (say a GPS one, not one so secret they'd just go "WHAT SATELLITE, IT WAS A TRAINING EXERCISE"). Then the debris takes out a few other satellites, and the GPS network takes a hit, being down for a week or so.
That's in my mind the absolute worst case scenario, and it would be pretty bad. We use GPS for everything; the airlines would take a hit, the road toll would go up, some smart missiles and bombs would stop working.
And you want to fucking bomb them for this? It's clearly just an accident. Sure, criminal ineptitude possibly, but that's what sanctions are for.
There's no reason anyone should die over this even in the absolute worst case. Stop crying for war as your country plummets over the fiscal cliff of economic crisis. And, of course, you sound so confident you can win (protip: You didn't win last time).
Are you fucking insane? Or one of those hardcore American evangelical Christians whose line of thought goes:
God blesses America to do whatever the fuck we want. Skirmishes? Bah, bomb those Athe-commies back to nothing. It escalates to total war? It's Christians vs Atheistic Commies! God will bless us with victory. It escalates to nuclear war? Praise God, the end times are upon us! The rapture is here!
So I repeat my question. Are you fucking insane?
Re:So what does the world do about it? (Score:5, Funny)
And, of course, you sound so confident you can win (protip: You didn't win last time).
We didn't have Chuck Norris last time.
Re:So what does the world do about it? (Score:5, Informative)
Can't smash into a GPS satellite, because they're in a much higher orbit.
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Besides, if anything, the US govt should apologize because after all they DID use the rocket to send a satellite into orbit. That kind of mission takes years of planning. Sure, North Korea is not hip or gingham, and their economy is a reflection of centralized planning, but as a whole, very few countries in the world can manage to pull stuff like this. So in my mind, those Koreans, either from the South or the North, are kick-ass. Best Warcraft and Starcraft players, extremely good capitalists in the south
Re:So what does the world do about it? (Score:5, Informative)
The GPS satellites have altitude well in excess of 20.000km, so for a North Korean ballistic missile launched satellite with an orbit at just around 500km to hit them would make for some big news indeed. That problem aside, you should probably know the GPS satellites are not something you go pick up at a nearby hardware store - they have a lead-time of years, decades if you count slipping them in to the budget somewhere and generally mucking around.
While at any given time there are a few irds hold on spare, should a significant number (enough for GS network to take a hit) of them be lost due to a runaway Kessler syndrome or repeat Carrington event, it would be far longer than few weeks to recover the situation. Indeed, the big worry people are hinting at is a Kessler syndrome, where our satellites decide to play a big game of billiards at orbital velocity in the sky. Not only would in theory ALL currently orbiting satellites be lost, but the debris would prevent ANY space-launches for centuries to come.
The ISS, by the way, is below 410km so quite far below the North Korean satellite for now, though the satellite's orbit is sure to decay in the future. Luckily ISS presents fairly small footprint for collissions, in the big scheme, but countless other satellites and debris lay below the satellite's current orbit. It's not good, but it's probably not catastrohic considering how frequently some satellite or other malfunctions. Our near orbit has grown so crowded however that satellites have for long been de-orbited or moved to safe orbits when taken out of service (Like that Russian satellite that was simply de-orbited rather than re-purposed because it might've received more than its alloted dose of radiation in the Van Allen belts and was therefore a risk).
Re:So what does the world do about it? (Score:5, Insightful)
The war would be short, yep. Over in a few days, a week or so tops.
Okay, so now you have an impoverished third world country where the single biggest employer, the military, has been utterly destroyed, full of fanatically loyal people who hate you and will do everything to kill you even at the expense of their own lives.
"Troops home by Christmas" was the talk during WW I, "a shadow of the Great War" was the talk during WW II, "a bunch of fishermen in mud huts" was Korea (familiar?) and Vietnam. "Kill Osama, get out" was Afghanistan and "Get Sadam, freedom will rise" was Iraq.
If you think a conflict with North Korea would be "short" you're not looking beyond the big picture.
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Not counting the usual border "exchanges", a war with North Korea is extremely unlikely unless NK accidentally or deliberately launches an actual nuclear warhead. China and Russia wouldn't want a war so close to home because conflict leads to chaos, what with refugees, disruption of supply routes, and even the possibility of local dissidents taking advantage of the situation.
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The war would be short, yep. Over in a few days, a week or so tops.
Okay, so now you have an impoverished third world country where the single biggest employer, the military, has been utterly destroyed, full of fanatically loyal people who hate you and will do everything to kill you even at the expense of their own lives.
Sure you'll end up with a huge mess.
However, I wonder how loyal the North Koreans really are to their leaders. They are forced to be loyal: people that didn't cry hard enough over the late leader's death were punished, harshly. Not being loyal is not an option. And they don't know better with the total lack of any access to independent information, all information is controlled by the state.
Saddam Hussein had a huge standing army, loyal to him. However when the US invaded Iraq, that army disappeared almost
Re:So what does the world do about it? (Score:4, Interesting)
This is basically what was expected in Japan after WW2 based on what was happening in the final weeks of the war. In reality, it was one of the most peaceful occupations the world has ever seen. I don't think you can predict that easily how an oppressed and starving population will react to occupation.
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no, China needs pawns right now. It would need to hit a critical Chinese satellite.
X-37B timing? (Score:3)
Re:X-37B timing? (Score:4, Funny)
pff.. why when they can just send up the X302 to blow it out of the sky?
Worst part (Score:2)
We can't shoot it down or destroy it without risking an international incident.
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"On the morning of Thursday December 13 and 4am, a test of our SM-3 missile defense system tumbled out of control right into the ballistic path of the recently launched North Korean satellite. We would like to extend out sincerest apologies to the North Korean government."
Re:Worst part (Score:4, Funny)
Oh noes.. the UN might write us a letter telling us how angry they are..
Could be worse (Score:3)
they might Need Another Seven Astronauts.
I think what you mean is: (Score:2)
Blast it out of the sky (Score:2)
Problem solved.
Do the F-15s still come with ASATs? (Score:2)
best post (Score:5, Funny)
from the article after someone makes a prediction of it crashing somewhere.
One of the follow-ups: " I predict it will crash into a Mayan temple in 9 days "
You guys have a tough bar to reach in comments this time :)
My apologies (Score:5, Funny)
Pity, Japan's having pitching a fit over NK's poor angle of attack, but y'all just need to get over it - NK clearly has no inclination to just roll over and take it!
Interesting (Score:2)
Commenter never specified whether it was through fear or from being doubled over in laughter.
What goes around, comes around (Score:5, Interesting)
In the original space race, when the Soviets launched a satellite, it was seen in the west as a proxy for an ICBM - the (correct) theory being, that a nation firing a sub-orbital rocket was "interesting", while a nation launching an orbital craft meant they could, potentially, hit "anywhere" (subject to orbital inclination and other similar factors)
Now that the Soviet Union has fallen, to be replaced by "friendly" (yeah, right) Russia, other nations can launch satellites with impunity (China, India etc). Most of them are, if not "friendly" to the west, are at least "not complete and utter fruitbats" (that's a technical term BTW).
North Korea (DPRK), though, is still transitioning from the "complete and utter fruitbat" of Kim Jong-Il to Kim Jong-Un, so that, at this stage, it is hard to say whether the new Dear Leader's plans for satellites are peaceful or not.
Assumption 1: it is peaceful, so an out of control satellite is, as USA, Russia and several others have found out, merely an expensive mistake
Assumption 2: it is deliberately provocative, (we launch a satellite, so an ICBM is easier), so an out of control satellite is... well what, exactly?
Let's not forget that part of DPRK's posturing is directed inwards - their recent "nuclear accident" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryanggang_explosion) - to quote wiki "No neighboring nations have claimed any detection of radioactive isotopes characteristic of a nuclear explosion.", even though their news media hinted it as such, means that even an unsuccessful satellite will still be seen as a "we are a major power" - when broadcast to those in DPRK
So... where from here? DPRK joins the space race. That is still a concern. Does it matter that the satellite failed? Only if it was intended to be "just a satellite" If it was a "proof of concept" for an ICBM, then a wonky orbit is still an orbit
Re:What goes around, comes around (Score:5, Insightful)
The North Korean satellite is in a polar orbit (north to south). You only put stuff into those highly inclined orbits if you want to maximize coverage of the Earth's surface - typically a spy satellite, though NASA's Landsat satellites are also in highly inclined orbits. The loiter time over any one spot on Earth is short, typically with a ~24 hour gap between flyovers (the Earth rotates underneath a stable orbit). Meaning without a communications satellite network or an array of receiving stations spanning the globe, you're only in communications with the satellite for a few minutes every 24 hours. But you do get coverage of the entire globe. Unless something went wildly wrong with the launch, this orbit was intentional since the spent stages fell towards the south-southwest. Most countries' early launches are to the east since you get free energy from the Earth's rotation if you launch in that direction.
Re:What goes around, comes around (Score:5, Informative)
Whatever it is, it's not a weather satellite. Those are put into geosynchronous or geostationary orbits (west to east with slight inclination or directly over the equator with zero inclination), so they'll have the same view of the Earth all the time. e.g. If India launches a weather satellite, they want it hanging over India 24/7 so, y'know, it'll show them pictures of the weather over India all the time. Because geosynchronous orbits are so much higher (42,000 km), they require a lot more energy than low earth orbit (150-300 km).
Actually, no. Much of the weather observations are done from polar orbiting satellites in low orbit. This allows them to have a much more detailed view of the earth and its weather systems then if you're geo-stationary. To put it in perspective, from geo-synchronous orbit, the earth is a sphere about 17 degrees wide. This is roughly the size of a basketball held out at arm's length. Sure you can see large scale weather patterns (Hurricanes and so forth) but it doesn't tell you about much about local conditions. This is where NOAA's POES satellites, as well as the ones from other nations are intended for. They are put into exactly the same type of sun-synchronous orbit as the NK launch.
Stop with the sentionalist crap already (Score:3, Insightful)
But this...
The satellite is just a small spacecraft on a polar low earth orbit. It seems its attitude control system has failed, this is why it tumbles around. It's not the first example of a failed satellite on low earth orbit... and it's not because it is tumbling that its trajectory has become unpredictable. It will just decay in the atmosphere and burn before reaching the ground, as most low earth orbit satellites do at the end of their life. Controlled re-entries are rare, except for massive objects such as the Mir space station.
North Korean news spin about the spin (Score:5, Funny)
FUD (Score:5, Informative)
The satellite appears to be in a stable, nearly circular orbit. [n2yo.com] Perigee 505.3 km, apogee: 588.3 km. That's higher than the ISS. It's not going to re-enter any time soon. Good launch. Some idiot seems to have looked at a tracking site, saw that the altitude was decreasing, which happens for about half of each orbit, and made a big deal out of this.
It's not clear that the satellite is out of control. Many satellites tumble during their early orbits, until attitude stabilization is commanded and achieved. Since North Korea doesn't have a worldwide network of tracking stations, they can only send commands when the satellite passes over their country. They may choose to let it orbit for a while and collect some telemetry data before trying to stabilize it. Assuming it's equipped for attitude stabilization. Early US and USSR satellites were not stabilized.
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Maybe it's time for the nations of the world to pony up the cash and send a "hoover vacuum" satellite to clean up the loose debris. They should also send a cat satellite that would be terrified of the other satellite. Of course, some know it all would point out that space is already a vacuum.
No need. Dark Helmet is on his way right now to suck our atmosphere up. We can just have him clean up the debris in orbit while he's at it.
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