This plot from Google Earth shows the announced splashdown zones and the locations of the splashdowns from a story in the Yomiuri. Credit: David Wright. Based on where the second stage fell, it is clear that the North Korean satellite launch was another failure. Oh-for-three. These guys really suck. NORTHCOM says: Stage one of the …
DPRK: Blip on a Screen
by | 2009-04-04 | 16 Comments
Screen Capture from a FNN Video, click here for the entire video. So, for about five minutes this morning, the Japanese Self-Defense Forces thought North Korea had launched its satellite rocket. (Good thing they didn’t launch anything in response.) One of the interesting things about this false alarm was that it was reportedly seen by …
Subcritical Testing at Lop Nor
by | 2009-04-03 | 2 Comments
I am off to Cambridge for less than 24 hours to participate in a workshop entitled, “Getting to Zero: US and Chinese Perspectives on Near Term Cooperative Steps to a World Free of Nuclear Weapons.” I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about China’s efforts in terms of stockpile stewardship, remanufacture, modernization, what-have-you. The …
DPRK Launch: Things to Look For
by | 2009-04-02 | 15 Comments
Weather conditions over the Korean peninsula look like they favor a Saturday, 4 April 2009 launch. Hopefully, we will see something more of the launch than the 10 seconds or so of video that came out for the Tae’podong 1 launch in 1998. So, what should the casual observer look for? Here is my list: …
