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China-Japan-Koreas
Nork Unha-3 rocket fails
2012-04-13
An anticipated missile launch by North Korea failed today when the country fired a long-range test rocket in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions and an agreement with the United States.

The 90-ton rocket launched at 6:39 p.m. EDT, but 81 seconds into the launch, the U.S. detected a substantially larger than expected flare and by ten minutes after launch, the rocket was no longer on several radar screens, U.S. officials said.

According to a statement from U.S. Northern Command and NORAD, the missile was tracked on a southerly launch over the Yellow Sea.

"Initial indications are that the first stage of the missile fell into the sea 165 km west of Seoul, South Korea," the statement said. "The remaining stages were assessed to have failed and no debris fell on land. At no time were the missile or the resultant debris a threat."

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said in a statement that despite the failed launch, "North Korea's provocative action threatens regional security, violates international law and contravenes its own recent commitments."

Carney added "any missile activity by North Korea is of concern to the international community. The United States remains vigilant in the face of North Korean provocations, and is fully committed to the security our allies in the region."

The rocket was launched from the Sohae Satellite Launching Station in the northern part of the country, near North Korea's border with China. Had the launch been successful, the rocket's third stage was expected to burn up in the atmosphere about ten minutes after launch, with debris falling north of Australia.

After the launch, South Korea's president Lee Myung Bak called an emergency cabinet meeting of his government.

Japanese officials, meanwhile, rushed to hold an emergency security meeting just after the launch. Japanese Defense minister Naoki Tanaka said no PAC3 missile batteries were used in the launch and the rocket was, "No threat to Japan."
Posted by:Steve White

#28  Pharaoh say, aerospace technological advancement "spin-off" products? "Say Wha...?" We don't do it that way in Chicago/Chi-town/ "The Hawk"...
We reject all Cracker innovation, and My Administration will crush it (gently) whenever " The Man" tries to take charge.
Posted by: canalzone   2012-04-13 21:59  

#27  Despite the bluster, you can expect Bammy to still send food. After all, he doesn't bluff.
Posted by: USN, Ret.   2012-04-13 21:23  

#26  China pretends to the World it doesn't control North Korea, the US-World pretend that China is telling the truth about same.

DAT WAY, NO ONE IN NE ASIA OR AROUND THE WORLD GETS TO GLOW-IN-THE-DARK DUE TO MAJOR NUCLEAR WAR AMONG "GREAT POWERS" [Nuke Club].
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-04-13 21:05  

#25  CHINA refuses to give NOKOR any more Food Aid than as current, + also doesn't want to care for any NOKOR Defectors or Refugees fleeing oer the Yalu to escape their country's hunger + povery - that leaves Pyongyang wid no choice but to bully or intimidate the US-West, etal. into giving them unilateral Food Aid AMAP ASAP ALAP.

Not unlike the former USSR = Soviet Union now Russia vee its Cold War East Eoropean allies [Warsaw Pact], COMMIE CHINA'S BIGGEST FEAR IS NOT NOKOR FIRING AN INDIGENOUS NUKE(S) ACROSS THE DMZ TOWARDS SOKOR + US + JAPAN, OR EVEN RUSSIA, BUT FIRING IT NORTHWARD ACROSS THE YALU AGZ BEIJING + MAJOR CHINESE CITIES + CCCC/CCP.
CHINA = USSR = MUST CONTROL MOST OR ALL OF THEIR ALLY'S OR ALLIES' ARMED FORCES + ADVANCED STRATEGIC, TACTICAL MILTECHS, ESPEC NUCLEAR FORCES [Nukes-WMDS].

CHINA = USSR = may all NOKOR some freedoms or local autonomy, but not + never to the point where they will be able to threaten or destroy China. IT WAS + REMAINS THE "COMMIE WAY".

Iff China thought that Pyongyang had dev a WORKING, RELIABLE, ACCURATE LR NUCLEAR MISSLE
SYS ON ITS OWN, THE FIRST THING CHINA WOULD DO IS FORMALLY TAKE OVER NORTH KOREA, A SCENARIO WHICH NEITHER PYONGYANG OR SEOUL, ETC. WANT.
As said or inferred times before, NOKOR cannot be seen as "too successful" in China's eye as per any dev of potent indigenous military tehcnologies.

HENCELY WE HAVE THE THREAT FROM THE ALLEGED NOKOR "THIRD NUCLEAR TEST", which in all likelihood will be used by NOKOR to demand no cut-off in Food Aid by the Bammer = US-Allies, or more Food Aid, Other from same.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-04-13 21:00  

#24  American Juche can make the USA as rich as North Korea!
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2012-04-13 20:45  

#23  Taking back manufacturing is a political act requiring a reindustrialization capitol inventment plan to incentivize the marketplace and escalating tariffs which gradually make currency amipulation and hidden subsidy advantages for china slowly fail. What they own is our debt, policy can control how we pay it to those whose aim is not to earn honest profit, here. To capitulate to not being industrial again is mere foolishness. This hemisphere and out own nation is far more resourced for self sufficiency than anywhere else in the world. Only a post industrial mindset in Washington and on the left hancuffs American reindustrialization.
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2012-04-13 18:46  

#22  I don't disagree with gr(r)omgoru's premises. But Jeremy Rifkin is an alarmist kook whose books have so far all turned out to be wrong. He is also "an adviser to several European Union heads of state," if that says anything about the value of his advice.
Posted by: RandomJD   2012-04-13 18:36  

#21  #17 You're not going to close the deficit by living more frugally. You're not going to save your way of life by printing more money. You're not going to take manufacturing (in it's current format) back from the Chinese. Your only hope is ushering in Third Industrial Revolution.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2012-04-13 16:37  

#20  That is funny, Mullah Richard!!!
Posted by: Alaska Paul   2012-04-13 16:08  

#19  Hahahahaha!!!!!
Posted by: DarthVader   2012-04-13 13:54  

#18  Gee, what could be invisible on radar, have pinpoint accuracy, be aircraft based, and cause a second stage malfunction through a high energy hole burned in the missle? Klingon disrupter maybe?
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2012-04-13 13:47  

#17  "Exploration: either technological, or geographical; always pays off. It's what made your country superpower."

1. I agree but we have some much bigger fish to fry right now. Current budget deficits are 10x what they were in 2007, lets get that under control first.

2. Exploration should have some sort of goal. A moon base COULD have a useful purpose. It could serve as a place for astronauts in 0 G for a long time to get used to gravity before returning to Earth. It could also be used as a manufacturing location that works better than 0 G. You can set a tool on a table on the moon and it will stay there. It would make for the ultimate semiconductor fab clean room, too. Great location for doing large scale vacuum deposition type work, etc.

3. Would make a good launch facility for deep space. You get an extra "fling" from the Moons orbit around Earth and you don't have to worry about launch through an atmosphere. A lot of titanium on the moon could mean some manufacturing of the craft could be done there.


There are uses, but there needs to be a use.
Posted by: crosspatch   2012-04-13 12:35  

#16  File under "Things That Are Not As Easy As They Look"
Posted by: mojo   2012-04-13 12:03  

#15  Hat tip to Mullah Richard! Nice -- heh heh!
Posted by: Yosemite Sam   2012-04-13 11:52  

#14  Should have used the E12-0 as the booster stage, not the A3-4.
Snark of the day.
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2012-04-13 10:58  

#13  the U.S. detected a substantially larger than expected flare

Umm, why do I read this with the addition of "Damn, didn't think that anti-missle missle made such a big bang...or was that the laser?"
Posted by: AlanC   2012-04-13 08:42  

#12  How hard can this be? It's not like it's rocket sci... oh, wait, yes it is.
Posted by: Glenmore   2012-04-13 08:25  

#11  Exploration: either technological, or geographical; always pays off. It's what made your country superpower.

Just ask world-striding Portugal, who was devoured by its empire rather than vice-versa.

I saw someone call the moon landings "the greatest accomplishment of world Communism", that is, if it weren't for the pressure of the Cold War, the moon shot would never have happened. Big-ticket "exploration" is, like most of the Edwardian empires (especially the German one) a sort of assertion of existing power, rather than the source of new power.
Posted by: Mitch H.   2012-04-13 08:18  

#10  I don't know anything about anti-missile technology, phil b, but I do know a a bit about communist dictatorships: math and the laws of physics are always sacrificed to ideology.
Posted by: RandomJD   2012-04-13 07:37  

#9  Does anyone who knows anything about anti-missile technology tell us whether the point at which it 'disintegrated' could result from a missile fired from an Aegis or similar system?

It was a Zionist hair-rays laser, phil_b.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2012-04-13 04:23  

#8  And Newt can pay for it. We're broke.

Exploration: either technological, or geographical; always pays off. It's what made your country superpower.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2012-04-13 04:20  

#7  "PROVEN NEWT GINGRICH CORRECT IN THAT THE US SHOULD RETURN + BUILD A MOON BASE."

And Newt can pay for it. We're broke.
Posted by: crosspatch   2012-04-13 03:21  

#6  The failure of the UNHA-III has important Tech ramfications for several countries.

> RUSSIA was repor helping the DPRK dev its Space Rockets + LR Missles.
> The DPRK was repor helping + sharing techs wid both IRAN + PAKISTAN. Pakistan also was helping Iran on its own.
> The DPRK was hoping to use a successful Rocket design for export revenues vee other Third World countries.

IMO THE FAILED UNHA-II HAS ONCE AGAIN [indirectly]PROVEN NEWT GINGRICH CORRECT IN THAT THE US SHOULD RETURN + BUILD A MOON BASE.

Not to argue that Iran, Pakistan's + even Russia's, etc. Ballistic Missles + Space Rockets will absolutely fail but the danger is indeed there.

* FYI DEFENCE.PK/FORUMS > [Defector]KIM JONG-IL WARNED NORTH KOREA TO STAY AWAY FROM CHINA IN HIS WILL, as China may prove to be the country North Korea most needs to watch + carefully monitor in coming time.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-04-13 03:00  

#5  The point at which it fell apart leads to three possible causes:

Mechanical failure when it reached maximum Q (maximum mechanical stress on the spacecraft due to dynamic pressure from flying through the atmosphere), a failed stage 2 ignition resulting in a controlled destruction, a catastrophic engine failure in either stage 1 or stage 2.

Indications are that the first stage impacted separately from the rest of the spacecraft but that isn't enough to say if stage 1 separation occurred normally or if it just broke apart.

If stage 1 separation was normal, there could have been a problem with stage 2 ignition or it might not have ignited at all resulting in a controlled destruction.

My guess is that someone might be getting a very closeup view of a nuclear test in the next few days.
Posted by: crosspatch   2012-04-13 02:39  

#4  Does anyone who knows anything about anti-missile technology tell us whether the point at which it 'disintegrated' could result from a missile fired from an Aegis or similar system?
Posted by: phil_b   2012-04-13 02:12  

#3  The ball is now in the Bammer's court - by launching the rocket, the DPRK seemingly put its food aid at risk whether the rocker succeeded or not. Iff the Bammer = USA stops the food aid as threatened, then IMO its going to be a very tensive Summer 2012, vee Iran + DPRK.

PAR FOR THE COURSE/SUMMER? AS THE GOP POTUS RACE COULD STIL END UP BEING A SPLIT TICKET - iff it is a split or brokered ticket, this will be one for the Popcorn.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2012-04-13 01:51  

#2  And with the big Party party tomorrow, as well.

P.S. Jim, Koreans don't substitute L for R. It's the Japanese language that lacks that sound. Japan and Korea are as different as Arkansas and Alabama.
Posted by: gromky   2012-04-13 01:30  

#1  Haw haw haw haw. (points and giggles)
So Solly Rocket go splashy.
Honorable Missile fails, so bad,so solly.
no thurt honerable face, no failt srarving worker fail o bolt sub assembry on,Yes.
Posted by: Redneck Jim   2012-04-13 00:33  

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