The Unha (, "Galaxy") is a

North Korea North Korea, officially the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the northern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders China and Russia to the north at the Yalu River, Yalu (Amnok) an ...

expendable ''Expendable'' is a science fiction novel by the Canadian author James Alan Gardner, published in 1997 by HarperCollins Publishers under its various imprints.Avon Books; HarperCollins Canada; SFBC/AvoNova. Paperback edition 1997, Eos Books. It i ...

carrier rocket A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistag ...

, which partially utilizes the same delivery system as the

Taepodong-2 The Taepodong-2 (TD-2, also spelled as Taep'o-dong 2)
Federation of American Scientists, May 30, 2008 () is a ...

orbital launch system.

History

North Korea's first orbital space launch attempt occurred on 31 August 1998, and was unsuccessful. This launch attempt was performed by a Paektusan-1 rocket, which used a solid motor third stage, a

Scud A Scud missile is one of a series of tactical ballistic missiles developed by the Soviet Union during the Cold War. It was exported widely to both Second and Third World countries. The term comes from the NATO reporting name attached to the m ...

-missile-based second stage, and a Hwasong-7 (Nodong-1) based first stage. Hwasong-7 was a North Korean-developed stage thought to be a scale-up of the old Soviet Scud missile. The Paektusan-1 stood tall, was in diameter, and weighed about 21 tonnes.

Vehicle description

The Unha's first stage consists of four clustered Nodong motors, which themselves are enlarged Scud motors. The second stage was initially thought to be based on the SS-N-6, although it, too, is now believed to be based on Scud technology. The third and last stage might be identical to the Iranian Safir's second stage which is propelled by two small gimballed motors. Recent satellite images of the

Sohae Satellite Launching Station Sohae Satellite Launching Station (, also known as Tongch'ang-dong Space Launch Center and Pongdong-ri) is a rocket launching site in Tongch'ang-ri, Cholsan County, North Pyongan Province, North Korea. The base is located among hills close to ...

showing an enlarged launch tower under construction have prompted online speculation that an enlarged version, called "Unha-X", might be under development.

Launch history

On 24 February 2009, North Korea announced that a Unha rocket would be used to launch the

Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 (, meaning Bright Star-2 or Lode Star-2) was a satellite launched by North Korea on April 5, 2009. Prior to the launch, concern was raised by other nations, particularly the United States, South Korea and Japan, that the la ...

satellite. According to the South Korean government, the launch took place on 5 April from the

Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground The Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground(동해위성발사장), also known as Musudan-ri (), is a rocket launching site in North Korea. Location It lies in southern Hwadae County, North Hamgyong Province, near Musu Dan, the cape marking the ...

Hwadae Hwadae () is a county in southern North Hamgyong province, North Korea, with an area of about 460 km2 and a population of approximately 70,000. It adjoins the Sea of Japan (East Sea of Korea) on the east and south. By land, it adjoins Kimch ...

county. Several countries, including South Korea, the U.S., and Japan, voiced concerns that the launch would violate

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

Resolution 1718 which prohibits North Korea from testing

ballistic missile A ballistic missile is a type of missile that uses projectile motion to deliver warheads on a target. These weapons are powered only during relatively brief periods—most of the flight is unpowered. Short-range ballistic missiles (SRBM) typic ...

s. Russia also announced they urged North Korea to refrain from its planned rocket launch. On 5 April 2009, the Unha-2 rocket was launched at around 02:30 a.m. UTC (11:30 a.m. local time). The U.S. Northern Command said that the first stage of the rocket fell into the

Sea of Japan The Sea of Japan is the marginal sea between the Japanese archipelago, Sakhalin, the Korean Peninsula, and the mainland of the Russian Far East. The Japanese archipelago separates the sea from the Pacific Ocean. Like the Mediterranean Sea, it ...

(East Sea of Korea), while the other rocket stages as well as the payload fell into the Pacific Ocean, and no object entered orbit. Later analysis indicated the rocket impacted from the launch site, and that the second stage operated normally but the rocket's third stage failed to separate properly. North Korea maintains that the rocket successfully put its payload in orbit. An Unha-3 rocket was launched at 00:49 a.m. UTC, 12 December 2012. The U.S. Northern Command said that the first stage of the rocket fell into the

Yellow Sea The Yellow Sea, also known as the North Sea, is a marginal sea of the Western Pacific Ocean located between mainland China and the Korean Peninsula, and can be considered the northwestern part of the East China Sea. Names It is one of four ...

, while the debris of the second stage was assessed to have fallen into the

Philippine Sea The Philippine Sea is a List of seas#Marginal seas by ocean, marginal sea of the Pacific Ocean, Western Pacific Ocean east of the list of islands of the Philippines, Philippine Archipelago (hence the name) and the List of seas#Largest seas ...

and confirmed that the satellite had entered orbit."North Korea Successfully Launches Satellite: Reports"
SPACE.com, December 12, 2012 (accessed 24 Sept. 2014)

Notes

References

External links

"An Analysis of North Korea's Unha-2 Launch Vehicle,"
David Wright, March 20, 2009. *Robert S. Norris and Hans M. Kristensen
"Nuclear Notebook: North Korea's nuclear program, 2005""''Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists''"
May/June 2005. {{North Korean Space Program Space launch vehicles of North Korea Expendable space launch systems Vehicles introduced in 2009