North Korea to launch more satellites to boost economy

North Korea on Monday said that it would launch more satellites to boost its economy, despite international opposition, citing its right as a sovereign nation to develop a space programme.

The North Korean regime said that "it is a global trend that a country seeks the economic growth with the space programme", state-run daily Rodong Sinmun reported.

It added that, under its five-year space development plan, it will launch more satellites, Efe news reported.

Pyongyang accused Washington of hampering both its space program and those of developing countries.

"Some countries have manipulated UN sanctions resolutions against us and hindered the sovereign country's space development. It is not a tolerable act," the daily said.

North Korea believes that "the universe is limitless and infinite", and that countries have the right to exploit the resources found in it, it added.

North Korea has launched two satellites so far: the Kwangmyongsong-1 (Bright Star-1), a name which refers to the late Kim Jong-il, father of the current North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, in August 1998, and the Kwangmyongsong-4 in February 2016.

While Pyongyang claims the right to space development for peaceful purposes, most of the international community considers its space programme to be a covert and illegal test of long-range missiles, given that its rocket-launching technology is similar to that of intercontinental ballistic missiles.

READ MORE

Watch: SpaceX launches 10 satellites from California air base

A SpaceX rocket carried 10 communications satellites into orbit from California, two days after the company successfully launched a satellite from Florida.

The Falcon 9 rocket blasted off yesterday through low- lying fog at 1.25 pm pacific daylight time (PDT) from Vandenberg Air Force Base northwest of Los Angeles. It carried a second batch of new satellites for Iridium Communications, which is replacing its orbiting fleet with a next-generation constellation of satellites.

About 7 minutes after liftoff, the rocket's first-stage booster returned to earth and landed on a floating platform on a ship in the Pacific Ocean, while the rocket's second stage continued to carry the satellites toward orbit.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 on Friday launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida and boosted a communications satellite for Bulgaria into orbit. Its first stage was recovered after landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who founded Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, believes reusing rocket components will bring down the cost of space launches.

Iridium plans to put in place 75 new satellites for its mobile voice and data communications system by mid-2018, requiring six more launches, all by SpaceX.

The $3 billion effort by the McLean, Virginia, company involves complex procedures to replace 66 operational satellites in use for many years. Some of the new satellites will be so-called on-orbit spares, or older satellites that remain in orbit on standby for use if the newer ones malfunction.

Swapping out and deorbiting some old satellites has already begun, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said in a pre-launch call with reporters.

Several old satellites have been moved into lower orbits to use up their remaining fuel and configure the solar panels for maximum drag so they will re-enter the atmosphere and burn up.

The first re-entry was believed to have occurred on June 11, Desch said.

"It's hard to celebrate something like that, but these satellites have put in almost 20 years of service, and making sure we've cleaned up after ourselves as we deploy our new constellation is a priority," he said.

The new satellites also carry payloads for joint-venture Aerion's space-based, real-time tracking and surveillance of aircraft around the globe, which has implications for efficiency, economy and safety especially in remote airspace over the oceans.

READ MORE

Isro to launch new 'eye in the sky'

Remember the ‘eye in the sky’ that helped soldiers to successfully carry out the ‘surgical strike’ against terrorist posts on the Jammu & Kashmir border last September?

Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) is strengthening this eye by launching a satellite in the Cartosat-2 series later this month.

The primary mission objective is providing high-resolution scenes of spot imagery.

It will be launched via Isro’s trusted PSLV workhorse, PSLV-C38 in this case, from Sriharikota in Andhra Pradesh, to an altitude of 500 km. It will be  seventh Cartosat satellite from the space body.

The project has been allocated Rs 160 crore; the satellite is expected to help preparation of high-resolution maps, with a Panchromatic camera. Apart from pictures, it can also record videos.

Military use apart, it would be useful for urban and rural applications, coastal land use and regulation, utility management and various related applications.

The future Earth Observation programme envisages continuity of a thematic series of satellites — Resourcesat, Cartosat, Oceansat, RISAT, INSAT —  for land, water and meteorological applications.

A Geo Imaging Satellite  is also envisaged in geostationary orbit, to enable real-time imaging.

Cartosat-1, first in the series of Cartosat earth observation satellites, was launched in May 2005, in the PSLV-C6 launch vehicle, followed by Cartosat-2 in January 2007.
READ MORE