Free Republic

Speculation mounts of imminent N. Korea rocket launch AFP By Thomas Watkins, with Hiroshi Hiyama in Tokyo Washington (AFP) - Speculation mounted Friday that North Korea is preparing a rocket or long-range missile launch to follow its recent nuclear test, with Japan reportedly ordering its military to shoot down any projectile that threatened its territory. With existing UN Security Council resolutions banning North Korea from the use of ballistic missile technology, any launch would be a further slap in the face of the international community which is struggling to find a united response to the January 6 nuclear test. Following...

North Korea may be readying long-range missile launch soon: Kyodo SEOUL | By Ju-min Park and Jack Kim North Korea may be preparing to launch a long-range missile as soon as within a week, Japan's Kyodo news agency reported early on Thursday, citing an unnamed Japanese government official. The official cited signs of possible preparations for a missile launch, based on analysis of satellite imagery of the North's Tongchang-ri missile test site on its west coast. The report came as U.N. Security Council members discuss fresh sanctions against the North after it conducted its fourth nuclear test on Jan. 6....

In Search of the First Rocket Manby Paul Gilster on January 27, 2016 If you're interested enough in space to be reading this site, you've probably run into the name of Wan Hu. He's the subject of a tale that may well be spurious, but it's certainly lively. It seems that some time around the year 1500 AD, Wan Hu took his fascination with rocketry to the logical limit by building a chair equipped with 47 gunpowder rockets. Lit by 47 attendants, the combined rockets took Wan Hu somewhere, but just where is unknown, as he is said to have...

The third attempt at a historic reusable-rocket milestone was the charm for SpaceX. The private spaceflight company brought the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket back to Earth for a soft touchdown tonight (Dec. 21), pulling off history's first-ever rocket landing during an orbital launch. (Blue Origin, the company led by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, landed its New Shepard booster successfully last month, but that occurred during a suborbital test.) The Falcon 9 blasted off at 8:29 p.m. EST today (0129 GMT on Dec. 22) from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, tasked with delivering to orbit 11 spacecraft...

Artist's concept of a Falcon 9 booster stage descending to a landing site at Cape Canaveral. Credit: SpaceX Assuming SpaceX's plans come to fruition, a Falcon 9 flight from Cape Canaveral on Sunday will end with a vertical rocket-assisted landing at an abandoned Cold War-era launch facility a few miles away. SpaceX confirmed the rocket's first stage, a slender cylindrical kerosene-fed rocket body standing 156 feet tall, will aim for a controlled touchdown at a landing pad the company rented from the U.S. Air Force less than six miles south of the Falco 9's Complex 40 launch pad. Liftoff...

SpaceX says Sunday is the target launch date for the first launch of a remodeled version of its Falcon 9 rocket, and the launcher’s first mission since a June failure, after completing a practice countdown and engine ignition test Friday. The mission’s firsts, including a possible landing attempt for the Falcon 9’s first stage, make it a critical launch for SpaceX as the company simultaneously resumes flying its fully-booked manifest, debuts a new generation Falcon booster, and continues a lengthy research and development initiative into rocket reusability. Sunday’s launch attempt is timed for 8:29 p.m. EST (0129 GMT Monday) from...

NASA is looking to get back on track with the first U.S. delivery to the International Space Station in nearly eight months. An unmanned Atlas rocket is scheduled to blast off at 5:55 p.m. Thursday from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with 7,400 pounds of supplies. But clouds and rain could push the launch into Friday, when the weather worsens.

Congressional Democrats are trying to build support for an effort to bar gun purchases by terror suspects, hoping to take advantage of the same public anxieties about security that gave Republicans a ringing House victory. The Democratic push seems likely to fall victim to opposition from the National Rifle Association and congressional gun-rights backers, chiefly Republicans, who have smothered firearms curbs for years. If the Republicans who control Congress block votes on the proposal, Democrats hope to profit politically by winning sympathy from angry voters. ...

U.S. military authorities have granted approval for liftoff Tuesday of a simplified satellite launcher from Hawaii on a test flight officials say will help drive down the costs of sending small spacecraft into orbit. Standing 67 feet tall and measuring 5 feet in diameter, the Super Strypi launch vehicle is based on a Cold War-era suborbital sounding rocket design, but with modern propulsion and a purpose-built launch pad at the U.S. Navy’s Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. The rocket was supposed to blast off Oct. 29, but launch crews encountered issues in pre-flight processing that put the mission...

Russia has deployed one of the deadliest weapons in its arsenal as part of their military action in Syria, according to reports. The mobile multiple rocket launcher - TOS-1A - features thermobaric weapons which can destroy eight city blocks in one strike, causing indiscriminate damage. This comes as Moscow announced that Russian fighter jets hit 40 ISIS targets in Syria since Tuesday morning.

North Korea freight train en route to launch pad The United States, South Korea and Japan have all confirmed the train is headed for the launch pad. By Elizabeth Shim | Oct. 1, 2015 at 9:55 PM Follow @upi SEOUL, Oct. 1 (UPI) -- A freight train has begun moving in the direction of North Korea's Sohae Satellite Launching Station in Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan province. The train, headed for North Korea's rocket launch pad was first spotted on Thursday, an unidentified source told Japanese newspaper Asahi Shimbun. Yonhap reported the contents of the freight train were unknown, but it was...

N.Korea Tidying Up Rocket Launch Site North Korea has fenced off and tidied up a rocket launch site as the Workers Party's 70th anniversary on Oct. 10 approaches, a government source here said Wednesday. But there are no signs of an imminent launch at the remote site in Tongchang-ri, North Pyongan Province. "There's lively activity at the Tongchang-ri missile launch site," the source here said. "We've found out that there's more movement of people and equipment there and they're putting the launch site into order." But no rocket parts have been taken to the site yet, the source added. Seoul...

(LEAD) N. Korea renews its vow to launch satellite 2015/09/18 20:53 (ATTN: UPDATES with more comments in paras 4-6, 9-11) SEOUL, Sept. 18 (Yonhap) -- North Korea reiterated its resolve Friday to launch a satellite, calling it a sovereign right, in its latest show of defiance against growing international calls against the provocation. "The more enemy forces will hamper our plan for space development, the more severe our counteraction will be," the North's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said in a dispatch. North Korea said it is determined to exercise its right to launch a satellite into orbit, no...

(3rd LD) N. Korea vows to launch rocket 2015/09/15 01:17 (ATTN: UPDATES with US reaction; ADDS to dateline) SEOUL/WASHINGTON, Sept. 14 (Yonhap) -- North Korea said Monday that it plans to launch a rocket at a time of its choosing as it has the right to conduct space research, cementing speculation over a provocation by the country near its key anniversary. North Korea's National Aerospace Development Administration "is pushing forward in the final phase the development of a new earth observation satellite for weather forecast," the Korean Central News Agency said. "The world will clearly see a series of satellites...

When the Soviets were thinking about landwar in the late 1970s, they struck upon idea: How about strapping as many rockets as possible to a T-72 tank chassis, and using it on the battlefield? Thus, the TOS-1 Heavy Flamethrower System was conceived. If you're confused by the "flamethrower" bit in that designation, it's understandable. The TOS-1 (and its more modern variant, the TOS-1A) look nothing like traditional flamethrowers, either handheld or tank-mounted, used in World War II and other conflicts. Instead, the TOS-1 is designated a flamethrower because, in addition to traditional incendiary rockets, it can also fire thermobaric rockets.

Two German researchers claim they have produced measurable amounts of thrust using a copy of NASA’s controversial EMDrive. It’s a result that has many people talking, but don’t plan your trip to the to the Alpha Centauri system just yet—the experts we spoke with are all highly skeptical of the study and its findings. As reported in Hacked, the details of the new study are being presented this week by Martin Tajmar, a professor and chair for Space Systems at the Dresden University of Technology, and co-author G. Fiedler, at the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics’ Propulsion and Energy...

The countdown is beginning for today’s launch of the Atlas 5 rocket to haul the Air Force’s GPS 2F-10 navigation satellite into orbit. Clocks are picking up the seven-hour sequence of work that will prepare the booster, payload and ground systems for blastoff at 11:36 a.m. EDT (1536 GMT). The launch team will begin powering up the rocket to commence standard pre-flight tests. Over the subsequent few hours, final preps for the Centaur's liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen systems will be performed, along with a test of the rocket's guidance system and the first stage propulsion and hydraulic preps, internal...

SpaceX just failed at its third attempt..

The countdown is beginning for today’s launch of the Atlas 5 rocket to haul the Air Force’s X-37B reusable spaceplane back into orbit. Clocks are picking up the seven-hour sequence of work that will prepare the booster, payload and ground systems for blastoff at 11:05 a.m. EDT (1505 GMT). Soon the launch team will begin powering up the rocket to commence standard pre-flight tests. Over the subsequent few hours, final preps for the Centaur's liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen systems will be performed, along with a test of the rocket's guidance system and the first stage propulsion and hydraulic preps,...

A glitch in a Russian space launch may have sent part of a rocket and its payload -- a satellite -- plummeting down onto southeastern Siberia, according to Russian state-run media reports. It is the second space mission failure for the Russian Federal Space Agency, Roscosmos, in less than a month. And the mishap occurs on the anniversary of a similar loss in 2014.