Kwangmyongsong(Bright Star)

Kwangmyŏngsŏng (meaning "Bright Star" in Korean) is a class of experimental satellite developed by North Korea and named after a Chinese-language poemby Kim Il-sung. It is the first class of satellite built by this country and the program started in the 1980s.


PIC:Kim Il-sung

According to North Korea Academy of Science's Academician Kwon Tong-hwa,the SLV was developed in the 1980s when the late leader Kim Il-sung decided to launch a Korean satellite. At the beginning of the 1990s, the capacity to achieve this goal was already reached.

On occasion of Kim Jong-il's 50th birthday, on February 16, 1992, his father Kim Il-sung presented him with a Chinese calligraphed poem he had written.Referring to his son's birth, an event that was reportedly marked by a doublerainbow and a bright star in the sky, the future Korean SLV and satellite wouldbe named after it:

From the eternal snowy summit of our sacred Paektusan Mountain,A Bright Star shall rise.—DPRK President Kim Il-sung

PIC:Kim Jong-il

The decision to send a North Korean satellite was precipitated by the successfullaunch of South Korea's first satellite, Uribyol 1 aka Kitsat 1 aka Oscar 23 aka KO 23, on August 10, 1992[3] and its second satellite, Uribyol 2 aka Kitsat 2 akaOscar 25 aka KO 25, on September 26, 1993[4], both by an European Ariane 4 SLV.In a late-1993 meeting of the Korean Workers' Party Central Committee, Kim Il-sung expressed his desire to quickly place a satellite into orbit, leading to the expansionof North Korea's nascent space program and the requirement for a space launch vehicle

In designing the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-1, North Korea received considerable assistance from the China's Academy of Launch Technology. This assistance has continued with the developmentof the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 satellite project. It may also extend to additional satellites,including a crude reconnaissance satellite.

Only five years later, preparations for the first satellite launch began at the Musudan-ri Launch Facility on August 7, 1998. Two weeks later, Korean People's Navy vessels proceeded to their mission area into the Sea of Japan (East Sea of Korea). By that time, South Korea had already placed two other satellites into space with Delta-7925 SLVs, Koreasat 1 aka Mugunghwa 1 aka Europe Star B, on August 5, 1995, and Koreasat 2 aka Mugunghwa 2 on January 14, 1996.

The mission was planned with an initial evening launch window that was favorable for observation. After a weather forecast predicted heavy winds and rain on the evening of the first launch window in question, the decision was then taken to delay the launch until 12:07 when the weather had cleared.

Liftoff occurred at 12:07 hours local time on August 31. The first stage was separated from the rocket 95 seconds after the launch. The fairing shroud separated at the 144th second, then the second stage separated itself from the rocket at the 266th second. North Korea claimed that the third stage put the satellite into orbit 27 seconds after the separation of the second stage.

Kwangmyŏngsŏng-2 is a planned North Korean satellite. According to the North Korean government,it is scheduled for launch between 4 and 8 April 2009, on an Unha-2 carrier rocket. If it reaches orbit, North Korea will become the tenth country to successfully launch a satellite. South Korea,Japan and the U.S. suspect the launch will be used for tests of the delivery technology for a long-range missile Taepodong-2

The launch was first publicly announced on 24 February 2009, when the Korean Central News Agency reported that they had been informed by the Korean Committee of Space Technology that preparations for a satellite launch were underway, and that the satellite would be launched from the Tonghae Satellite Launching Ground in Hwadae. At about the same time, Kim Jong-il visited the province where the launch site is located, as he had immediately prior to the previous launch on 4 July 2006.

North Korea designated the waters off Japan's Akita and Iwate prefectures as a risk zone for falling debris. Most of a designated zone in the Sea of Japan lies within Japan's exclusive economic zone and outside its territorial waters.

April 4. 2009 Juche 98--KOREAN NEWS

DPRK(Democratic People's Republic of Korea) to launch Its Satellite Soon
Pyongyang, April 4 (KCNA) -- Preparations for launching "Kwangmyongsong-2," an experimental communications satellite, by carrier rocket "Unha-2" have been completed at the satellite launching ground in the east coastal area of the DPRK, according to the information available from the Korean Committee of Space Technology.

The satellite will be launched soon.There is no change in the technological indexes necessary for the safe navigation of airliners and ships provided to the international organizations and the countries concerned in advance.