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Subscribe to RSSThe five-day window for the launch of a North Korean rocket mounted with an observation satellite opened Thursday as the rest of the world waits to see if Pyongyang will defy international warnings and go ahead with the controversial mission.
NBC News is in North Korea to observe the launch with space expert James Oberg. With a 22-year career as a space engineer in support of NASA’s spaceflight operations, Oberg has the experience and technical expertise to determine the veracity of North Korea’s claims about this mission.
Oberg answered reader questions for an hour earlier today. The questions and answers were extremely engaging and informative.
Click below to replay the chat.
Read some of Oberg's reports on North Korea's space program:
What happens if North Korea's satellite fails?
North Koreans desperate for Western approval of launch
Leave a Comment:
this live event is censored, they only post what rhymes to their liking only.
I didn't get any of my questions answered; apparently mine weren't professional enough.
Should of been a rocket scientist... :(
Stupendous interview...learned alot. The questions were very intelligent too. Hope everyone reads it, especially the hysterics in the White House and the State Department.
Did you miss the chat? We'll be talking about North Korea on the Weekly Space Hangout: http://cosmoquest.org/Hangouts/ ... It's just a few space scribes sitting around talking, and I'm afraid none of us are logging in from North Korea. But it is real-time video and chat. We'll also be talking about extrasolar planets, neutrinos, asteroid pictures and whisky ... in ... SPAAAACE!
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Hopefully this launch is a failure like the others so that more emphasis can be put in the Pakistan/Iran region (bringing our new number one terrorist as designated by the Department of Justice, who is again living in Pakistan on one of their military compounds. Now, how much in billions have we given the Pakistan government in Intelleligence/Anti-Terrorist Aid). I hope the new North Korean leader focuses on bringing peace and stability to that region. History has shown that the North Korean children and babies have suffered the consequences of a misdirected government under dictatorship of the Communist. They are the innocent victims along with the North Koreans that would lke freedom and democracy, and the feedom to excel social-economically.
The chat with James Oberg was nice read ....
Maybe try a chat directly on this type of posting ....
James Oberg seems to really know his stuff on this topic ....
Thanks Alan ....
Maybe someone can post the frequency that this satellite is supposed to transmit on ....
Otherwise finding it on short wave would most likely be a guess ....
Their previous (alleged) satellite launch was said to transmit its signals around 27mhz...which in North America and some other places, is right in the middle of the Citizen's Band.
If that should be true this time, good luck finding it in the QRM...good buddy.
I believe the thing to do is to launch a ballistic missile from a neutral or international zone, then nail it with a Patriot or equivalent. This would demonstrate to the N.K.'s that whatever they launch can be readily dealt with.
NBC SPACE EXPERT...?...?...?
WOW, this guy "prolley" wrote:
- Union Made Space parts tend to do better in Space, lets hope Union Local Space Manufactures #385 was involved.
- Obama has done more for Space Travel since JFK
- The Republicans wanted to use Rich Whites to ride into Space, and completely forget about giving Single Black Mothers the opportunity they are ENTITLED to, as in Interplanetary travel
- If this mission fails, it's clearly due to poor parts, purcahased on the Cheap, due to Right Wing cost cuters.
NK will tell their people it was a success and the will be getting 1 tv channel soon.
Sorry I missed the chat. Very much would like to ask Mr. Oberg some technical questions. I'm a retired Delta and Atlas test and design EE and I'd like his opinion regarding the quality, sophistication and reliability of the flight control avionics packages and if he thinks that they are adequate for booster flight, separation and orbital insertion maneuvers? For booster flight, do they use ground (radar) guidance working with an onboard 3 axis gyro, rate gyro and flight programmer autopilot or do they just rely on the autopilot? How is the booster of their rocket controlled for yaw, pitch and roll? As they assemble the vehicle, do they do end-to-end testing culminating in a full dress rehearsal simflight to verify the integration of all systems and the sequence of pyro events in real-time? What is their data analysis after testing like (if any)? I am curious how sophisticated their various build and checkout procedures are, what processes they have for reviewing and correcting procedures and how good are their technicians and QA inspectors? Does QA have the authority (and the guts) to override the test engineer and halt a procedure when they see something done wrong or the procedure in error? Finally, I'm assuming UDMH and N2O4 for propellants -- right?