NKorea rocket launch partial success: US expert
April 5, 2009North Korea's rocket launch is a partial technological success on the way to building a long-range missile, even if Pyongyang failed to put a satellite in orbit, the former director of the US missile defense agency said Sunday.
"It says, first of all, they had successful first staging and (were) able to control the rocket through staging," retired General Henry Obering told CNN television.
"That is a significant step forward for any missile program because often times the missiles become unstable as they go through the staging events," Obering said.
But the following stages failed, with part falling in the Sea of Japan and the rest in the Pacific, he told the US Cable News Network.
"The fact that they did not get apparent separation of the payload from the second or third stage means that they have more work to do there in terms of being able to achieve that," he said.
"The bottom line is they are continuing to advance in their ranges and I think it's why it's important that we have the ability to defend against these types of threats," Obering said.
North Korea launched on Sunday a Taepodong-2 missile, which normally has three stages and an estimated range of 4,100 miles (6,700 kilometers).
On July 5, 2006, North test-fired seven missiles, including a long-range Taepodong-2 which explodes after 40 seconds
He said the other six launches succeeded, which amounted to a good sales pitch.
Anybody who "is willing to buy the missiles they would be willing to sell to," he said
"The one thing in their brochure they have not been able to demonstrate is the long-range missile," he added.
North Korea has sold hundreds of ballistic missiles to Iran, Syria and Pakistan over the last decade in a bid to obtain foreign exchange, according to a study commissioned by Congress in 2007.
In December 2002, 15 North Korean Scud missiles were seized from a ship headed for Yemen.
A number of experts said however that North Korea does not yet have the technology needed to equip a missile with a nuclear warhead.
(c) 2009 AFP
-
South Korea launches satellite
Jul 29, 2006 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Commander: Russia To Complete Experiment On Bulava Missile In 2006
Jul 08, 2005 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Russia Taps Space Market With Decommissioned Missiles
Jul 22, 2005 |
not rated yet |
0
-
SKorea postpones first space rocket launch: official
Mar 12, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Russian Rocket Fails Shortly After Launch
Jul 27, 2006 |
not rated yet |
0
-
Engineers build first sub-10-nm carbon nanotube transistor
Feb 01, 2012 |
4.9 / 5 (31) |
30
-
Something old, something new: Evolution and the structural divergence of duplicate genes
Jan 31, 2012 |
4.6 / 5 (7) |
1
-
The hidden nanoworld of ice crystals: Revealing the dynamic behavior of quasi-liquid layers
Jan 30, 2012 |
5 / 5 (3) |
1
-
Stock market network reveals investor clustering
Jan 27, 2012 |
3.9 / 5 (23) |
8
-
Of microchemistry and molecules: Electronic microfluidic device synthesizes biocompatible probes
Jan 26, 2012 |
5 / 5 (1) |
0
-
Titan's lack of impact craters
Feb 09, 2012
-
Real pictures of black hole eating a star?
Feb 08, 2012
-
Hypothetical way to travel faster than light, but not technically exceed lightspeed
Feb 06, 2012
-
How do scientists monitor the Sun's activity?
Feb 05, 2012
-
Search patterns in observational studies
Feb 05, 2012
-
Derivation of Pogson's law
Feb 03, 2012
- More from Physics Forums - General Astronomy
More news stories
Humans may have helped the decline of African rainforests 3000 years ago
(PhysOrg.com) -- Large areas of rainforests in Central Africa mysteriously disappeared over three thousand years ago, to be replaced by savannas. The prevailing theory has been that the cause was a change ...
Could Venus be shifting gear?
(PhysOrg.com) -- ESAs Venus Express spacecraft has discovered that our cloud-covered neighbour spins a little slower than previously measured. Peering through the dense atmosphere in the infrared, the ...
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
5 hours ago |
5 / 5 (5) |
7
|
Mars Science Laboratory computer issue resolved
(PhysOrg.com) -- Engineers have found the root cause of a computer reset that occurred two months ago on NASA's Mars Science Laboratory and have determined how to correct it.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
6 hours ago |
5 / 5 (5) |
3
|
Clam fields found at deep, low-temperature Mariana vents
(PhysOrg.com) -- Scientists have marveled at the unusual life forms thriving at high temperature hydrothermal vents of the deep ocean.
Space & Earth / Earth Sciences
6 hours ago |
not rated yet |
0
|
Two new moons for Jupiter
Advances in technology have lead to the discovery of new planets outside of our Solar System, and now even new moons in our own backyard.
Space & Earth / Space Exploration
5 hours ago |
not rated yet |
2
Human cognitive performance suffers following natural disasters, researchers find
Not surprisingly, victims of a natural disaster can experience stress and anxiety, but a new study indicates that it might also cause them to make more errors - some serious - in their daily lives. In their upcoming Human Fa ...
"Twisted Metal" gamers get shot at real gunplay
Fans of "Twisted Metal" will get to welcome a long-awaited sequel of the car-battle videogame with a real-world bang by blasting an ice cream truck to bits with a machine gun.
Putting the squeeze on planets outside our solar system
(PhysOrg.com) -- Using high-powered lasers, scientists at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and collaborators discovered that molten magnesium silicate undergoes a phase change in the liquid state, abruptly ...
The power of estrogen -- male snakes attract other males
A new study has shown that boosting the estrogen levels of male garter snakes causes them to secrete the same pheromones that females use to attract suitors, and turned the males into just about the sexiest ...
Both maternal and paternal age linked to autism
Older maternal and paternal age are jointly associated with having a child with autism, according to a recently published study led by researchers at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston (UTHealth).
New error-correcting codes guarantee the fastest possible rate of data transmission
Error-correcting codes are one of the triumphs of the digital age. Theyre a way of encoding information so that it can be transmitted across a communication channel such as an optical fiber o ...
Apr 06, 2009
Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
Apr 06, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
Apr 06, 2009
Rank: not rated yet
Apr 12, 2009
Rank: 1 / 5 (1)