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China-Japan-Koreas
N.Korea Unveils New 'Satellite Facility'
2015-05-11
A purported satellite command center stands about 400 m from former North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's residence in Pyongyang, satellite imagery suggests. Kim died in 2011. The imagery matches an aerial picture of the facility shown on the North Korean state TV on Sunday, while the residence is reportedly still sometimes used by current leader Pudgy Kim Jong-un.

The the official [North] Korean Central News Agency on Sunday claimed the regime built a facility that supervises rocket launches.

"[North] Korea's satellites will soar into space as the party decides," the corpulent Kim was quoted as saying during an inspection of the facility.

The North has no satellites.

Pundits worry that the North will launch another missile to mark the 70th anniversary of the Workers Party. In 2012 the isolated country launched a space rocket carrying what it claimed was a satellite, but the contraption was not functional and the launch was widely seen as a test of intercontinental missile technology.
Posted by:Steve White

#6  Mike, this is an all-new facility. Per the North Korean Economy Watch:

The new satellite control center is located in the Pothonggang District of Pyongyang. The size of the mission control room is approximately 570 square meters. Other facilities in the building, according to the DPRK media, include a revolutionary history room, auxiliary display and control room, and optical observation room, E-library, lounge, conference room, offices, dining room and bedrooms.

This new control center may also be the administrative home of the National Aerospace Development Administration. Construction of the new satellite control center began shortly after NADA was publicly announced last year. Based on commercial satellite imagery, construction began sometime between 2014-4-13 and 2014-7-3, meaning that if completed, construction took nearly one year.

If completed, this new facility raises a question about the status of the older satellite control center in Ryongsong District at the Second Academy of Natural Sciences.
Posted by: Pappy   2015-05-11 16:35  

#5  that was me - guess I lost my cookie
Posted by: Frank G   2015-05-11 16:13  

#4  The old satellite command center was kinda obsolete. Still fly-by-wire
Posted by: Uliger Shinese4006   2015-05-11 16:11  

#3  I think the old satellite control facility was killed and eaten during the last famine.
Posted by: SteveS   2015-05-11 14:33  

#2  Pappy,

Interestingly, I was doing some research on this yesterday - this may be a rebuild/refit of an existing facility instead of an all new one. Can't remember the names of the two locations, but they've got one on the east coast and one on the west, and I think this might be the eastern one.

Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski   2015-05-11 14:15  

#1  This supposedly replaces an existing "satellite control facility." No word on what happens to the old facility.
Posted by: Pappy   2015-05-11 12:37  

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