Kwangmyongsong-3, Unha-3 launch, December 12 2012

[Comet]

The engines have been recovered

[Prober]

The engines have been recovered

some video on this story...

http://www.arirang.co.kr/Player/News_Vod.asp?code=News&nSeq=142631

[Damon Hill]

Good; that'll give us an idea of North Korea's current state of the art.  Are these engines pressure fed or turbopump?  If the latter, I hope those are recovered also.

Finding parts from the second stage would seem extremely unlikely.

[edkyle99]

Good; that'll give us an idea of North Korea's current state of the art.  Are these engines pressure fed or turbopump?  If the latter, I hope those are recovered also.

Finding parts from the second stage would seem extremely unlikely.

Turbopump, and the four feed lines from the recovered oxidizer tank (which weighed 3.2 tonnes empty and was sized to carry 48 tonnes of oxidizer) show that each engine has its own turbopump, which was of interest to a number of folks who study such things.

 - Ed Kyle

[Blackstar]

Just wanted to thank everybody who posted updates, information, photos, and analysis to this thread. It's been very interesting.

[Leo E Liptical]

Yes, it has been very interesting. Maybe the new year will bring an RF signal from Kwangmyongsong 3. I for one hope that the transmitter begins transmittng, as I have monitored for a signal most every day. As a hobby SAT watcher, I enjoy this kinda stuff... Happy New Year, all... although 2012 was a great year for me, one that will be hard to beat!
Mike SATWATCH.ORG

[russianhalo117]

Yes, it has been very interesting. Maybe the new year will bring an RF signal from Kwangmyongsong 3. I for one hope that the transmitter begins transmittng, as I have monitored for a signal most every day. As a hobby SAT watcher, I enjoy this kinda stuff... Happy New Year, all... although 2012 was a great year for me, one that will be hard to beat!
Mike SATWATCH.ORG

There is a near-unanimous decision here among the members and experts posting in this thread that the satellite won't transmit because it is Dead On Arrival to the orbit, the fact that its solar array wing appears to have not deployed and that it is tumbling in space during its orbit. JimO, please correct me if I misstated something again.

[JimO]

I hope you also noticed the official Russian space tracking service explicitly told reporters that THEY have been listening for NorkorSat-1 signals and have heard absolutely nothing.

The absence of signals will soon be moot when even North Koreans notice the absence of released ground imagery from a satellite that was supposed to watch their own country. Unless some Pyongyang damage limitation team finds a way to fake it.

The Turks had their own remote sensing satellite launched commercially a few days after NorkorSat-1 and it's already transmitting surface imagery. From Pyongyang, nothing.

[JimO]

There is a near-unanimous decision here among the members and experts posting in this thread that the satellite won't transmit because it is Dead On Arrival to the orbit, the fact that its solar array wing appears to have not deployed and that it is tumbling in space during its orbit. JimO, please correct me if I misstated something again.

I think you have properly described the 'sense of the group', but a lot of us were especially cautious that any reported tumble might be temporary, or part of a downmode option. Now, there's plenty of visual tracking reported at the satobs.org group that indicates a slow tumble.

Still unknown -- the solar array configuration on orbit. News reports say that DPRK has just released a postage stamp that shows "the satellite in orbit", but how much detail there is, and how authentic it is, remains to be seen.

That's important because a stable satellite would want to have all solar arrays deployed in the same plane to maximize energy production, a configuration that seriously suffers from attitude control problems. A satellite configured like the object we were shown at Sohae on April 8 with arrays on three sides [presumably also the fourth -- I kick myself for not starting a mob chant to 'turn it around' to show the back] is much less efficient in power generation but has superior survival characteristics for tumbling since one array almost always gets some sunlight.

Along the lines of attitude control -- would it have to be horizon stable, which is fairly complex? Could it just be inertially stable, with the instrument pointing vector selected to be vertical while passing over North Korea? They really wouldn't care which way it was pointed at any other time -- they don't even need data playback capability. That could allow selection of an even more power efficient orientation, with solar panels all deployed into the same plane.

Plenty more to ponder, especially the recovered rocket parts.

[Steven Pietrobon]

Due to a lack of signals, I think K3 is dead. It was reported that the plan was to send out propaganda songs while in orbit. These have not been heard. A possible cause of the failure are vibrations during launch.

I also think the panels do not deploy in orbit. A photo above shows one of the panels open, with the contents of the satellite visible, instead of being covered with thermal insulation. This indicates to me that the hinges are there to access the satellite internals, instead of for deployment in space.

[InvalidAttitude]

If the solar panels not deployed, still should be able to generate some energy to send at least an "error" signal. I think the solar panels are not deployable, since  it would  add more complexity to an unproven design.

I wonder if there is a close cooperation on missile tech between Iran and NK, is there the same on the payload front?

[input~2]

The solar panels were not supposed to deploy as shown in this picture (from Steve's list above)

[input~2]

DPRK Stamp Commemorates Successful Satellite Launch

Pyongyang, December 31 (KCNA) -- The State Stamp Bureau of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea issued a new kind of stamp (a sheet) to hail the successful launch of satellite Kwangmyongsong 3-2 in the country.

The stamp pictures the carrier rocket Unha-3 flying into the sky and written in its upper part are Korean words that translate into "DPRK Launches Satellite Kwangmyongsong 3-2 with Success".

It also features the DPRK national flag, satellites moving in the space and the trajectory of the carrier rocket.

Stamp found here

[JimO]

Looks like deployed solar arrays to me. And consistent with other on-orbit art.

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Looks like deployed solar arrays to me. And consistent with other on-orbit art.

Errr that satellite also have twin dish antennae...... are you sure that's not just another comsat mock-up? 

[Skyrocket]

Looks like deployed solar arrays to me. And consistent with other on-orbit art.

Errr that satellite also have twin dish antennae...... are you sure that's not just another comsat mock-up? 

That's just a generic satellite-artwork (of an generic GEO-comsat). Has nothing to do with the real satellite - at least not with the satellite shown before the first Unha-3 launch this year.

[input~2]

Looks like deployed solar arrays to me. And consistent with other on-orbit art.

Errr that satellite also have twin dish antennae...... are you sure that's not just another comsat mock-up? 

That's just a generic satellite-artwork (of an generic GEO-comsat). Has nothing to do with the real satellite - at least not with the satellite shown before the first Unha-3 launch this year.

I agree. KCNA release says "satellites moving in the space" without identifying either of them as KMS 3-2. I think they have carefully selected the words here and the satellite on the stamp in the forefront is just a generic comsat.

[JimO]

Concur. And it's not just the artwork. We seem to have several different mockups at the Sohae space port to show visitors.

[ISNJH]

Closer look at bottom of third stage of Unha-3, ran image through a filter to try and lighten it and bring little more detail out of the bottom of the third stage.

[kevin-rf]

North Korea has a new name for North Koreans: ‘space conquerors’

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/worldviews/wp/2013/01/13/north-korea-has-a-new-name-for-north-koreans-space-conquerors/