NKorea launch pad expansion 'nearing completion'

[Buster's Uncle]

NKorea launch pad expansion 'nearing completion'
Associated Press
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON  1 hour ago



WASHINGTON (AP) — Construction to upgrade North Korea's main rocket launch pad should be complete by this fall, allowing Pyongyang to conduct a launch by year's end if it decides to do so, a U.S. research institute said Thursday.

The U.S.-Korea Institute at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies is basing its conclusions on commercial satellite imagery of the Korean west coast site of Sohae. The latest photo is from Aug. 8.

The institute says construction is nearing completion at the launch pad to handle larger rockets than the Unha-3 that was blasted into space from Sohae in December 2012.

North Korea has worked rapidly to expand the launch tower, and has progressed on a railway to access it. It also has completed external work on two prominent, domed buildings at the site whose function is uncertain.

The Associated Press was provided with the analysis ahead of publication on the institute's website, 38 North.

It remains unclear whether North Korea is planning another long-range rocket launch, and whether it yet has an operational rocket that would require the much bigger launch tower.

A major construction program has been underway at Sohae since mid-2013. North Korea says the Unha-3 was part of a peaceful space program, but the U.S. is concerned the technology could put the North closer to having a ballistic missile that can reach America.

North Korea hasn't tested a long-range rocket or nuclear device in the past year and a half, but has conducted an unusually high number of weapons tests during 2014, including short-range missiles.

Last week, it fired five rockets into the sea. Tensions on the divided Korean Peninsula could escalate as U.S. and South Korea began military exercises this week that Pyongyang objects to.


http://news.yahoo.com/nkorea-launch-pad-expansion-nearing-205003948.html

[Buster's Uncle]

New N. Korean rocket launch site near completion: think-tank
AFP
2 hours ago



Undated photo released by KCNA on December 15, 2012 shows North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un visiting the Sohae Space Center in Cholsan County, North Phyongan Province (AFP Photo/)



Seoul (AFP) - North Korea will be able to test longer-range rockets at its new launch site before the end of this year, a US think-tank has said.

A major construction programme has been under way at the North's Sohae Satellite Launching Station since mid-2013, focused on upgrading facilities to handle larger, longer-range rockets with heavier payloads.

Satellite images taken this month indicate that several significant construction projects there are nearing completion despite heavy rain this summer, the US-Korea institute at Johns Hopkins University said in a post dated Thursday.

"The effort under way since late last year -- to upgrade the gantry tower and launch pad -- that will enable the North Koreans to test space launch vehicles with greater ranges and carry larger payloads than the Unha rocket fired in 2012 should be finished by fall," it said.

"As a result, the North will be able to conduct new launches from this site before the end of the year should it decide to do so."

There is little doubt that North Korea has an active ballistic missile development programme, but it remains unclear how much progress it has made.



Satellite image taken on November 26, 2012 shows North Korea's Sohae Satellite Launching Station (AFP Photo/DigitalGlobe)


Development of a working ICBM that could reach the continental United States would bring the North's regular nuclear strike warnings to a whole new level.

Last month, the same US think-tank said North Korea might be wrapping up engine trials on an intercontinental ballistic missile, citing satellite images.

"If the engine tests are concluded, the next stage in development of the KN-08 road-mobile ICBM may be full-scale flight tests of the missile", it said.

It stressed, however, that it was unclear just how successful the tests had been.

The KN-08 was first unveiled at a military parade in April 2012, but many analysts dismissed the models on show as mock-ups.

In December the same year, Pyongyang demonstrated its rocket capabilities by sending a satellite into orbit on a multi-stage launch vehicle.

But it has yet to conduct a test that would show it has mastered the re-entry technology required for an effective ICBM.


http://news.yahoo.com/north-korean-launch-near-completion-think-tank-012022614.html