North Korea Shows Off Space Center and Launches Missile 294
Hugh Pickens writes "BBC reports that nobody would describe North Korea's mission control as imposing. It is a small, unremarkable, two-story building, tiny compared to Nasa's Houston home in America or Russia's space command. But the North's secretive regime, now headed by the third of the Kim dynasty to rule here, Kim Jong-un, is opening up, for the first time in an attempt to allay fears it is about to test missile technology that could deliver a warhead as far as America. 'Sixteen technicians man the satellite command center. Dressed in white coats, like doctors, they sit behind computer screens,' writes Damian Grammaticas. 'On a big screen are live pictures from the launch pad, showing North Korea's rocket being fueled up. The satellite it will carry has already been loaded on board, we are told.' Pyongyang says the minibar refrigerator-sized satellite covered with solar panels and golden foil to protect its instruments will broadcast martial music praising North Korea's founder, Kim Il Sung and is designed to monitor weather, natural disasters and agriculture patterns. As the five-day window for North Korea's rocket launch opens today, the United States has warned a launch would be a breach of UN Security Council resolutions that ban the North from testing missile technology. If North Korea goes ahead it could lead to UN sanctions, it has warned. 'That's why we have invited you, to clearly show that this is a satellite launch not a ballistic missile,' says Paek Chang-ho, head of the satellite control center. 'I hope you become supporters in showing the transparency of our satellite launch.'" After all that North Korea decided to launch a missile anyway. From the article: "The three-stage rocket, called the Unha-3, blasted off from the Soehae launch site near North Korea’s western corner with China, at about 7:39 a.m., the South Korea Defense Ministry said."
Wow! Three times! (Score:5, Funny)
Missle in the title, the summary AND the "from the pay-no-attention-to-the-missle-behind-the-curtain dept". That's gotta be a record.
Re:Wow! Three times! (Score:5, Funny)
You see, the UN resolutions bar North Korea from launching missiles. They say nothing about missles.
NK discovers life (Score:4, Funny)
After the launch...
South Korea Defense Ministry - "On this screen you can see we are detecting vast forms of life in outer space.."
BBC - "That looks a lot like the Pacific Ocean..."
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You must be american. Geography is not one of your strengths.
Re:NK discovers life (Score:5, Funny)
Hint: North Korea and South Korea do not have the same kind of relationship as North Dakota and South Dakota.
Fail (Score:5, Informative)
Numerous news sites are reporting that the launch failed - it broke apart shortly after launch.
Cut 'im a husk, buddy. (Score:2)
I had Heroic Leader, or whats'is-name as my desktop for a long time, some painting where he's getting the serum through the storm or something. The Young One has BIG SHOES (size 5 or so) to fill. He's doing the best his people can make him look like he's doing.
Enjoy the show.
Re:Fail (Score:5, Funny)
First time in ages /. has actually reported an event within hours of it happening, and if they had just waited an extra 3 minutes they could have done it right. The irony...
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It's not a fail, it's MIRV warhead testing!
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Nice idea, but you have to leave before you can re-enter ;)
Kaputnik (Score:5, Informative)
Yep, and the launch failed [go.com].
Of course, even a failed launch is still valuable information for North Korea, as that is part of the whole point of such tests.
Re:Kaputnik (Score:5, Insightful)
It shows you just how isolated they are. Any other country wanting to build a rocket to send a satellite into space could build on the 100+ years of research and development done by the rest of the world.
I'm sure whatever mistake they made here was made by some rocket scientist in the past and has already been corrected, but they don't have access to that. They had to start from nothing and repeat all the mistakes of the past.
I'm sure they get some help from the Russians and China, but they are all about trying to do things their own way, alone. Except feed themselves, apparently.
Re:Kaputnik (Score:5, Interesting)
their entire weapons program is based on freely available info.
their plutonium is made by reverse engineered magnox reactors.
their missiles are based on (old) russian tech. ...neither of which they seem to be able to do right. they get frighteningly close, but by frightening i mean they have a lot of toys that could explode and cause damage beyond their borders.
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smells like juche spirit.
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Indeed, they are so backward that they didn't even kill 7 Astronauts by ignore their own teams warnings!
New mistakes are found every day, and sometimes you just get a failure.
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It shows you just how isolated they are. Any other country wanting to build a rocket to send a satellite into space could build on the 100+ years of research and development done by the rest of the world.
I'm sure whatever mistake they made here was made by some rocket scientist in the past and has already been corrected, but they don't have access to that. They had to start from nothing and repeat all the mistakes of the past.
I'm sure they get some help from the Russians and China, but they are all about trying to do things their own way, alone. Except feed themselves, apparently.
That and their scientists probably don't perform as well on a skimpy diet with a gun to their head. I wouldn't be surprised if some North Korean prison camps got a few new members this week. I don't know about the research info...they probably bought that from China or on the black market a long time ago. Digressing here, but how did we let a regime this nuts get their claws this close to a working long range weapon, yet we're stomping all over the middle east, supposedly to prevent just this. I do know
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The difference is that the Peoples Republic of China doesn't have a vested interest in stopping the US from taking over Iraq or Iran.
The PRC doesn't particularly like the idea of a nuclear armed North Korea but they like the idea of the land currently labeled "North Korea" controlled by the South Koreans or the US even less.
Re:Kaputnik (Score:5, Informative)
Already known, even to amateurs [wired.com].
And the White House has been warning the media about this [politico.com].
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What are you talking about? Every story I read pointed that out clearly (as if it wasn't obvious to anyone with half a brain anyway).
A predictable outcome... (Score:5, Funny)
And in the belly of an oddly-configured 747 flying just beyond North Korea's radar horizon, a scientist skilled in laser technology was heard to mutter, "Pull!"
Re:A predictable outcome... (Score:5, Funny)
You know what's worrying? There's people on things like 4chan right now that will one day be inventing stuff like this.
"Sir, how does this laser rifle work again?"
"Okay, first, push the button that says 'CHARGIN'. Then, press the button that says 'FIRAN'".
*BWUUUUUUUUUUUHH*
"Kinda sounds like a dude projectile vomiting, Sarge."
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Predictable (Score:3)
The previous /. story covering the new US agreement to provide aid was filled with posts of optimism, and contempt for anyone expressing skepticism as old relics too hardened in their ways to accept the new dictator's good faith.
I'm still skeptical.
Re:Predictable (Score:5, Insightful)
Of course they won't give up their nuclear weapon program in exchange for food aid, but that is irrelevant. Aid should be given, in exchange for nothing, even if it might be diverted or otherwise help the regime last. Using the threat of famine for political gains is unacceptable. North Korea does it to some extent, we shouldn't.
Re:Predictable (Score:5, Insightful)
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You mean kind of like the way the USA is spending beyond its means on all sorts of things while many are homeless? And the price of food is rocketing beyond the means of many?
Re:Predictable (Score:5, Insightful)
You mean kind of like the way the USA is spending beyond its means on all sorts of things while many are homeless?
I don't approve of my country's budget priorities either, but there's a couple of crucial differences:
1. It's not illegal for the homeless to seek gainful employment in the private sector.
2. It's not illegal for the homeless to leave the country and find another with less craptastic public policy.
In North Korea, everyone is completely at the mercy of the government for every need, all the time. Complaining means getting thrown into prison camp. Trying to escape the country means getting thrown into prison camp. Trying to make money to support your family because your government job stopped paying you two years ago could also mean getting thrown into prison camp, except from what I've read NK stopped enforcing that rule because it's the only way most of the country is still alive.
The people of North Korea are serfs - there's simply no other word for it. When the majority of the USA is burning garbage to stay warm, the entire population is several inches shorter than Canadians, and the border to Mexico is blocked by barbed wire and guard towers to keep the Americans from emigrating, then you can make simplistic comparisons.
Re:Predictable (Score:4, Insightful)
It's absolutely mad to compare hunger and poverty in the USA to what happens in North Korea.
When a significant percentage of Americans are eating rats, bark and grass to try to stay alive, and fleeing to Mexico to find food, then you'd have a comparable situation.
Re:Predictable (Score:5, Interesting)
Sure there is.
First, infiltrate the NK working classes. Give them outside information - anything they want. Secret Agent Man sneaks in, finds a farmer family, gives them each a Big Mac meal - Super-Sized - and a rundown of our side of the story. Don't ask them to do anything except listen. Just try to convince them that we're not the mass-murdering monsters the NK propaganda claims. Above all, though, be honest - admit to the things we have done wrong, don't hide it. It's not the glamorous James Bond spy gig, but it will actually work. Repeat on a massive scale - the number of agents involved should reach the thousands. Masquerade it as a food benefit program, if necessary.
Second, start cutting off the rich kids' toys. We have sanctions on wheat and corn for the peasants, but the king still drinks $10,000-a-bottle champagne. Find a way to crack down on that sort of thing, and you'll either get them to seriously back down, or to go to even more extremes to maintain power.
If the leaders did back down, a relatively bloodless revolution will come about naturally, over the course of decades. Just like the Soviet Union - the leaders liberalized, the oppressed used their new freedoms to get rid of *all* the tyranny. Didn't work out perfectly, but still better than the alternative. No more work involved on our end.
If, however, Kim III clamps down tighter, get your "secret agents" to start a push for an armed revolution. Target especially the members of the army - when one in five North Korean combat-age men are in the army, you'll need to do something to shift those numbers. Promise the rebels full support - and GIVE it. They call for air strikes, give them. They ask for Stinger missiles, give them. The absolute worst thing you could do is fail to follow through at this point. This is arguably the only expensive part of the plan.
If the revolution succeeds, try to angle them towards reunification. It'll be tough on South Korea's economy for a bit, but they're in good enough shape to handle it. If they insist on independence for whatever reason, make sure no new dictators pop up, through assassinations if necessary.
Even if the revolution fails, the country will be in total ruins. Once the fighting stops, the generals will realize there's no food *at* *all*, and they'll either force the leadership out, or force them to accept any terms to get foreign food. You'll still have a dictator, but a pacified one, and one in a very, very tenuous situation.
The only complicating factor is China. China views NK as a necessary buffer state between it, and the South Korean and American armies below. They've been propping the country up for half a century. They'll need to be neutralized somehow before any of this can have a reasonable chance of success.
Best option? Trade. China is the world's #1 exporter, but also the world's #2 importer. Unlike North Korea, they *depend* on the rest of the world.
The best place to squeeze them is on manufacturing technology. They import almost all their manufacturing machinery from either the US or Japan, both of whom have a vested interest in neutralizing North Korea. Getting Russia to join in by cutting off the flow of oil and power from the North would also help, but might be optional.
Obviously, selling the American public on accepting a huge spike in consumer good prices "for liberating North Korea" will never work. However, doing so "for FREEDOM" might. There's been a huge amount of anti-Chinese rhetoric in American politics lately - between latent Sinophobia (racism against Chinese is probably one of the more tolerated bigotries in the US), and the whole "China buying up America" debt scare, you could probably sell America on accepting a spike in prices at least long enough to execute the NK plan.
OK, fine, so it's not *easy*, but it is *possible*. And if there's ever a revolution in China that leads to them abandoning NK, it *does* become easy.
But, as better men than I have said, "doing what is right is not always easy, and doing what is easy is not always right".
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Interfering with their internal affairs is not right. If the people want a revolution, they will have one. If they do not want, who are you to tell them what is better for them? North Korea is not unique, many countries have dictatorships and monarchies, and they will all go down in due time. It is not your country, no matter how good you try to pretend your intentions are "freeing" them is not your responsibility but theirs.
The only thing your plan would achieve is replace a dictator with another (that and
Re:Predictable (Score:5, Insightful)
Somewhere, an intelligence analyst is rolling on the floor laughing at your post.
Infiltrate the North Korean working classes? Secret Agent Man just sneaks in? If he somehow manages to get into the country, the first peasant to see him is going to run screaming for help from the army. According to everything they've heard in their lives, the West is a big scary monster out to kill them. How many Secret Agent Men are you prepared to sacrifice before you get one who lasts longer than a couple of hours before he's shot?
More fundamentally, North Korea has a shedload of conventional artillery pointed at Seoul: the capital of South Korea, with a few million people. As soon as you do anything that they notice and don't like - possibly including cutting off food aid, but definitely including any Secret Agent Men - they can open fire and destroy more economic activity than their entire country is worth, several times over. If it weren't for this, the US would probably have just bombed the damn place already.
Re:Predictable (Score:5, Insightful)
this is akin to holding the cops accountable for what the kidnappers do
nobody in the world is using the threat of famine for political gains on the issue of north korea, except north korea
if the world is interested in feeding the people of north korea, it would remove the impediment that is preventing the people of north korea from feeding themselves. that would be the government of north korea
or, the world could continue to ship grain to north korea while its government builds nukes and ICBMs instead of feeding its people. so with every passing decade, we have more and more weapons of mass destruction, and people still starving unless the world continues to feed them
we can wait for the government to collapse itself. except that we've been doing that for over 50 years, and it never collapses. it just invests in more advanced military technology. we reward them for those efforts, because we prove to them we will still feed them no matter how crazy they act or how many threats they make or how vile the weapons they build
the people of north korea continue to starve, the weapons technology proliferates to other vile regimes in the world, more weapons get stockpiled, and therefore the stakes involved with the government of north korea collapsing get more dire: who gets the weapons in the anarchy that follows? what does the long life of the north korea regime and the timidity of the world governments say to other countries who wish to engage in warmongering and neglect of its own people?
this doesn't end well. and the longer the regime lasts, the less well it ends. and the whole time, the people there starve and suffer
the interest in peace sometimes requires difficult choices. hundreds of thousands would die in south korea if north korea is attacked. but kicking the can down the road just means the choice gets more difficult later, and more die later
i have two thoughts:
1. the longer the regime lasts, the more people die when the regime goes away. so the bravest choice is to confront them as soon as possible. we have not done this, and now they have nuclear weapons while their people eat leaves
2. china stops covering for its rabid historical ally, and begrudingly accepts a united korean penninsula under a seoul friendly to the west. chinese nationalism does not accept the numbers of chinese who died for the existence of north korea o allow this outcome
am i a warmongerer for having these thoughts? because i am critical of a regime that endlessly prepares for war and does not feed its own people? how is that possible in your mind to not see the malice where the malice actually lies: pyongyang
i am saying this does not end well. you can dispute me
1. some kidnap scenarios end with the kidnapper and the hostage and a lot of police dead.
2. some end with the kidnapper in custody and the hostage safe
i'll try to be optimistic and think pyongyang will go away in scenario 2. but my gut and my mind tell me scenario 1 is more likely. i am sorry, i do not think i am being pessimistic here, i think i am being realistic about the obvious and long demonstrated malice of this rabid kooky mafia cult
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I'm sad I missed that (damn job!) The North Koreans are real cut-ups, ripe for some mockery. Anyone who takes them seriously, aside from the occasional commando raid or whatever, is over-estimating. If they went to war with anyone, they would need total support from China or someone, and the Chinese are having too much fun fucking us economically. If the Chinese sucker us into a war, it'll probably be with Iran, but I don't see why they need to crush us that badly. Revenge?
Oh Baby Jeebus the hypocrisy (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously the hypocrisy of the Americans is astounding. In regards to this launch the North Koreans did everything by the book
- They applied to the international regulatory authorities for space launch approval and orbital slot
- They posted air and maritime notices
- They had the international press to tour the launch site
Now any other country doing this would not have any issues. But if it is Iran or North Korea then go fuck yourself because the Americans don't like you. Don't forget that after all these years Cuba still deserves that embargo, you know because they are such a threat to the Americans.
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Re:Oh Baby Jeebus the hypocrisy (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Oh Baby Jeebus the hypocrisy (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Oh Baby Jeebus the hypocrisy (Score:5, Informative)
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he who is without sin cast the first stone yada yada...
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Re:Oh Baby Jeebus the hypocrisy (Score:5, Informative)
Now any other country doing this would not have any issues.
I'm not going to argue that the US isn't grossly hypocritical but you can't call North Korea just another country. Not 2 years ago they torpedoed and sank a south korean navy ship! 2/5 of their population is currently in the military and up to 400k of the rest are in prisions/camps with a 40% mortality rate. The reason the population isn't in constant famine is because of food aid provided by countries such as the US under conditions that they not develop ICBMs! Their grand leader for eternity died decades ago. IMO, north korea filing a flight plan for a rocket launch is about the same as someone guilty of a knife attack applying for a gun. As for Iran, the US should get the hell out of the middle east but a regime who's goal is to destroy a nearby country (Israel) shouldn't get a free pass.
Re:Oh Baby Jeebus the hypocrisy (Score:4, Interesting)
...you can't call North Korea just another country. Not 2 years ago they torpedoed and sank a south korean navy ship!
If you had got past the initial hype, you could have found that when the S. Koreans asked Russia to review the findings of the S. Korean investigation, the report was never published because in the words of a US Ambassador to Korea it would be embarrassing to Obama and damage the S. Korean president. (International Herald Tribune, 31 August 2010).
A leaked version of the report suggested a S. Korean mine was the likely culprit and that fragments of torpedo had been in the water much too long to have been responsible.
Re:Oh Baby Jeebus the hypocrisy (Score:5, Informative)
- They applied to the international regulatory authorities for space launch approval and orbital slot
- They posted air and maritime notices
- They had the international press to tour the launch site
You forgot a few:
- They promised to suspend weapons testing, including missile launches, in exchange for food aid.
- They maintain one of the largest armies on the planet.
- They launched an unprovoked artillery attack on an American ally just last year, killing mostly civilians.
- They have never signed a peace treaty ending the Korea War. There is only a cease-fire. Technically we are still at war with them.
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They have never signed a peace treaty ending the Korea War. There is only a cease-fire. Technically we are still at war with them.
Did we ever technically declare war on them? I didn't think so, in which case, we never were at war, so the lack of a peace treaty indicates a lack of an end to a non-war.
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A ceasefire which they repudiated in 2009.
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Sorry, but your tag is showing.
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The North Korean dictatorship pursues nuclear and missile weapons while its people starve. It maintains order with torture, arbitrary executions and a network of prison/slave labour camps. It sells nuclear and missile weapons technology to anyone who'll buy, making the world a more dangerous place. It is a very, very nasty regime. It blackmails countries into sending food aid by making promises to change, and then breaking them --- and aid is diverted to the military anyway. So yeah, anyone in their right m
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Cuba is a threat, therefore we should embargo them so that they are desperate. Then when someone who doesn't likes us comes along and offers to help them, they're much more conducive to such help.
Wouldn't it be better to normalize relations with Cuba, so that way they wouldn't want to let someone aim some missiles at their ally?
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i'm pretty sure that crisis was resolved before a certain november day in 1963...
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The Soviets didn't attempt to put nukes in Cuba until someone put them in Turkey.
The US brought that on themselves, entirely. USSR was just maintaining the arms race, to neutralise the advantage the US gained in Turkey.
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I thought it was because Cuba seized all the US-owned sugar plantations there when Castro took over.
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could you actually define the hypocrisy? (Score:5, Insightful)
would this be like the hypocrisy that charles manson uses a gun, and the police use a gun, and so they are morally equivalent, and to criticize charles manson is hypocrisy?
or a burglar breaks into your home, and the government forces you to pay taxes, so its all the same thing: robbery... hypocrisy!
how about a drunk driver jumping the sidewalk and killing a pedestrian is the same as a drunk stumbling into a highway and getting hit... hypocrisy!
yeah hypocrisy! everything is morally equivalent!
please define the parameters in which the globally condemned mafia family who starves its people while it pursues nukes is the same as the government of the USA
bonus thought (if you can handle more than one thought at a time): it is not required to like the USA to agree with my comment. it is actually possible *gasp*, get this radical craziness!: to dislike North Korea, AND the USA, for different, REAL reasons... at the same time! no freakin way! for real?
rather than the genius level analysis you and parent poster demonstrate. "bad things from government A" = "bad things government B": hypocrisy!
durrr....duhh...
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those are bad things. now try to understand that those bad things are not the same as the bad things north korea does. and it is possible to dislike both governments at the same time. and it is also possible to criticize north korea when it launches a missile. what do you think of the missile launch from the mafia that starves its people while it builds nuke in defiance of the world? (not defiance of the usa, defiance of the world)
is it possible to step back from simpleminded tribal thinking and criticize b
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Congratulations on finding your "shift" key.
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make believe the USA does not exist. what are your opinions of the actions of North Korea?
is it possible in your mind to criticize the USA, which i ENCOURAGE you to do, AND criticize North Korea, at the same time?
or is your brain so heavily hardwired for cromagnon tribal posturing, that it is impossible for you to look at the actions of North Korea, and the actions of the USA, and not criticize them SEPARATELY AT THE SAME TIME
am i asking you to play chopin's opus 25 on the piano? am i asking you to walk on
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i ENCOURAGE you to criticize the USA. repeat: i ENCOURAGE you to criticize the USA. on the merits of the crimes the USA has committed in this world, which are many and large. do you understand me?
The USA had slavery. The USA persecuted people for beliefs or skin color. The USA has the death penalty. The USA had concentration camps. The USA kills innocent civilians in war zones because it's easier to kill innocents than properly identify combatants. Gitmo.
The USA has committed a large number of crimes, internationally and locally. Most legislation these days is unconstitutional. The government doesn't even follow its own rules, and worse, the voters don't care and encourage it.
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thank you. i agree with you on your observations
now, the regime in pyongyang just launched a missile. consider the history of this government. what are your opinions of north korea?
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do you live in alaska? (referencing your sig). this is the closest us territory to north korea
they build missiles and nuclear bombs while their people eat leaves and starve, we are still technically in a state of war with them (the korean war "ended" with only an armistice), they repeatedly and continually lie about their intentions, they have for decades announced their hostile intentions to their neighbors and the usa, they are universally condemned by all countries in the world, including their only "clo
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One (South Korea). There was this minor scuffle called the Korean War [wikipedia.org] back in the fifties. Perhaps you might have heard of it.
Lots [wikipedia.org].
You tell that to the people who were kidnapped from Japan to train North Korean spies [wikipedia.org].
A small, poor country with nuclear weapons [wikipedia.org], spends over 30% of its GDP on the military [brainz.org], has a history of thre [cbsnews.com]
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The leaders of NK are indeed "fucking crazy"; that really should be obvious. I'm not so sure about Iran though; Ahmadinejad seems like a pretty sane person to me. Iran's leaders aren't exactly nice people (with the way they handled their recent rebellion, the way they treat citizens, etc.), and have some extreme religious beliefs (like many people across the world), but that doesn't really make them "fucking crazy", at least not compared to the bulk of the global population or to the leaders of many other
Missle Failure (Score:4, Funny)
The jokes just write themselves (Score:5, Funny)
The missile was supposed to mark Kim Jong Un's ascension to power, but it failed to rise to the occasion.
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FAIL: Imagine if you were the head missle engineer (Score:5, Insightful)
His family and anyone he works with and their families are in trouble.
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The hilarious part is that this is probably why all of their missile launches have been failures. If they keep killing or torturing the guys who are responsible for each failed launch, the next guys have to start from scratch without the benefits of learning exactly what went wrong. So let's let them keep doing this and laugh at how stupid and shortsighted they're being.
I blame the name (Score:3)
They should have save money ... (Score:3)
... and hired SpaceX to launch their satellite.
waiting for "its morally equivalent to USA" trolls (Score:2, Insightful)
who show up in every story that might possibly condemn another country
oh here they are:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2783493&cid=39668133 [slashdot.org]
hey, geniuses: it's actually mentally possible to... drum roll please... get this far out idea:
1. dislike country XYZ, and
2. dislike the USA,
3. at the same time!
no freakin way! i know, radically subversive mental concept huh?
get this piece of really far out thinking: you can actually condemn North Korea, and, still dislike the USA? whoa, heavy stuff
you don't actu
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i'm sorry, i've patented that insult word in the context of internet flamewars. you owe me $5
Only a minute? (Score:3)
That's pretty bad if the new leader's missle {sic} is only useful for a minute.
I thought he was was younger than that.
-AI
Re:Missle? (Score:5, Funny)
In North Korea, they often shorten Missile to just Miss, so they don't have much experience with the full spelling.
Re:Missle? (Score:5, Informative)
They don't have much experience with Missile launches either.
It appears the launch failed, the second and third stage as well as the payload fell into the sea. [google.com].
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Maybe the second and third stages, as well as the orbital payload are just dummies which represent the payoad which willl ultimately be attached to the first stage.
Quite clearly (Score:3)
Darn all typos and abbreviations. The North Koreans obviously meant to refer to their Missal [wikimedia.org] doctrines...
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Pretty sure it's a hemi-parasitic plant that for some reason people kiss under at Christmas. The author has just left off "toe".
Re:Missle? (Score:5, Funny)
the "i" broke off just under a minute after posting.
Re:Missle? (Score:5, Funny)
Cause of crash confirmed: they were holding it wrong.
Re:Missle? (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Missle? (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Missle? (Score:5, Insightful)
Missiles can be magic. But a magic rocket is just stupid.
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the Atlas vehicles were ICBMs IIRC.
that said, the space shuttle was pretty much 2 ICBMs strapped to a giant fuel tank with a little help from the SSMEs.
Re:Missle? (Score:5, Interesting)
On the television, they had someone that clarified "Missile vs Rocket", in that they are exactly the same except for a guidance system.
Eg, a rocket goes up and stops when it runs out of fuel or hits a target and detonates. A Missile has a guidance system to lock on to a target and deliver a payload.
The end result is the same, we generally reserve the word "Rocket" for the ones without guidance systems, as such the context is correct when you refer to RPG as Rocket Propelled Grenade, and the kinds used in fireworks.
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A "rocket" is generally anything that is powered by a rocket engine. A rocket engine is one which carries its oxidizer and fuel together, rather than using oxygen from the air.
Of course, there's jet-powered missiles now (I believe the Tomahawk is one of these), so those, technically, do not qualify as "rockets".
Re:Missle? (Score:5, Funny)
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everything since the V2 has had guidance though... you think NASA just pointed and hoped?
Re:Missle? (Score:5, Informative)
In the fighter jet world, it is generally broken down thusly:
Missile - Powered, guided (AIM-9/AIM-120/ALCM)
Rocket - Powered, unguided (2.75" FFAR)
Smart bomb - Guided, unpowered (JDAM)
Bomb - unpowered, unguided (regular MK-82 dumb bomb)
For large thingies:
Missile - Goes up, parts come down, guided, hopefully on target (ICBM)
Rocket - Goes up, parts stay in orbit or semi-orbit (first stages of an orbital vehicle/payload)
Re:Missle? (Score:4)
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i thought that definition was "projectile"? some point in the late '90s it became fashionable to extend the definition of "missile" to "shit that an unruly highschool kid throws", just for emotive impact.
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It's been used in military history & wargaming as long as I can remember, which is a long time before the late 90s.
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Ironically, some of the idiocy coming from California sounds remarkably like the rhetoric and propaganda from "dear leader"... couple that with the fact that they can't do anything right in California either... well, we're seeing distinct parallels.
The only thing missing in NK is a leader who actually believed he was abducted by aliens...
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WTF? Scientists and engineers working on rocket contracts don't get substantially different paychecks than scientists and engineers working on home appliances, toys, etc. A little more prestige, perhaps, but there's no difference in pay; they get the same lackluster pay that all non-managers and non-executives get. An engineer working at a rocket company who loses his job can go work somewhere else (assuming skills transfer; depends on the exact skills) and get the same paycheck, or probably better, sinc
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WW2 Germany? A uniform, party links, funding or risk falling out of favour and been consumed in lesser projects.
Post WW2 Germany? The French gave skilled Germans a factory job with the hint of going home.
The US offered a Paperclip like deal, a clean file, a new life or risk a court in Europe or Russia.
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China also likes having a buffer region between it and South Korea. That is another reason why they continue to prop North Korea up.