Click on the image for a larger version
(The 26 March 2009 image is from ISIS)
If you haven’t seen it, check out ISIS’s latest report on North Korea’s missile launch preparation which shows an image of the launch site taken on 26 March, 2009. Strangely, ISIS seems to emphasize the crane on top of the gantry. (Something that has been there for years.) I think there are two other, more interesting features to the photograph. First, the gantry seems to have been opened up (note that in the 2003 images the gantry seems slimmer than the current image). This would seem to indicate that the walkways normally associated with gantries have been moved outward to accept the stacking of the different stages. Another interesting feature is the fact that you cannot distinguish the individual floors in the gantry shadow; a feature that is clearly visible in the other two images. Those 2003 images bracket the Sun’s elevation of the current image and since both show the floors, I think we could reasonably expect to see them in the shadow unless North Korea had placed curtains on the gantry to block the view of oblique satellite photographs.
Of course, there are a couple of other possible explanations. First, opening the gantry would change the geometry and might account for the lack of individual floor shadows. That, however, seems less likely to me than the curtain explanation since I would expect an opened gantry to make the individual floors more visible in the shadows. Its also possible that we are actually seeing the shadow of the missile, which in this hypothesis, is not surrounded by gantry. This seems even less likely to me because, then, we should still see the individual floor shadows from the gantry. As I say, I think both of these possibilities are less likely, but I thought I’d mention then.
Just wanted to mention that the Japanese Defense Minister ordered the Japanese military to destroy the missile if its launch fails and it falls onto Japanese territory.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7967202.stm
I think this is a picture of the same launch site from a different angle. I think it supports the curtain theory.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7967202.stm
I think this is a picture of the same launch site from a different angle. I think it supports the curtain theory.
sorry if I double post this
A higher resolution version of emeris’ picture is at:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/5057928/North-Korea-rocket-launch-First-pictures-of-launch-pad.html
That last pic sure looks like camo cloth to me. I know that if I were Kim Jong-Il I’d cover the thing up. No sense in telegraphing your new ICBM to the intel community.
@Andy: You are essentially correct, but I’ve found the media to be very misleading on this story. The Japanese have stated they will intercept the booster, after it has separated from the missile, should it overshoot the announced danger area and near a Japanese prefecture. This would presumably also mean the missile itself should something go awry. Personally, I doubt they can do it, but I’m no expert in this area. (I would like to hear opinions on this.) Anyway, I think the headlines of “Japan says it will destroy N. Korea missile,” which have appeared regularly in the past few days, are off the mark.
ISIS has issued a much expanded report on the North Korean launch site with more photos etc. It is available here:
http://www.isis-online.org/publications/dprk/Musudan_Ri_27March2009.pdf
Report on identification of the launcher itself. As for now, without the pictures.
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Spy_satellites_spot_nose_of_NKorea_rocket_report_999.html