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New details about a plot to fire a rocket at Marina Bay from Batam island have raised more questions over the capabilities of the terrorist cell behind the foiled attack. Indonesia's National Counter-terrorism Agency (BNPT) chief Suhardi Alius said the suspects planned to launch the strike from a hilltop in Taman Habibie. The little-known nature park is located about 17km from Singapore's shoreline and just over 18km from Marina Bay Sands.

Now conspiracy theorists are claiming the space rocket was “attacked”. The “reusable” rocket was destroyed after suffering a catastrophic explosion on launch at Cape Canaveral in Florida, US on Thursday. The huge blast, which caused no injuries, ripped through the rocket during a pre-launch check – sending plumes of thick black smoke into the air. Billionaire SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said the cause of the explosion, which was caught on camera, is still unknown.

For the second time this year, SpaceX is preparing to launch a commercial communications satellite for Tokyo-based SKY Perfect JSAT Corp. early Sunday. A Falcon 9 rocket is set to blast off at 1:26 a.m. EDT (0526 GMT) from Cape Canaveral with the JCSAT 16 satellite to relay data and video across Japan and the Asia-Pacific. A first stage landing attempt will follow in the Atlantic Ocean a few minutes later. The launch window extends for two hours. On Saturday, ground crews at Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad plan to roll the Falcon 9 rocket out of its hangar...

Orbital ATK announced late Tuesday that the company’s Antares medium-class commercial rocket outfitted with new first stage RD-181 engines has successfully completed a test firing of the powerplants. The 30-second long static test firing took place at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday evening, May 31, at Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) Pad 0A. The now revamped launch vehicle – dubbed Antares 230 – has been ‘re-engined’ and upgraded with a pair of modern and more powerful first stage engines – the Russian-built RD-181 fueled by LOX/kerosene. The engine test was conducted using only the first stage of Antares at the MARS...

Authorities say two Southern California high school students attached a homemade model rocket to a skateboard before it exploded and killed one of the teens. The blast Monday evening in the courtyard of a Ventura County elementary school killed 18-year-old Bernard Moon, the AP reports. His 17-year-old friend was injured and is in stable condition. Sheriff's Detective Timothy Loman says the teens built the rocket and attached it to the skateboard as a propulsion device. Authorities say the experiment wasn't sanctioned by the elementary school. The teens attended Thousand Oaks High School, which said in a Twitter post: "Our hearts...

IAI SkySniper is an air-launched, precision attack ballistic missile developed by IAI MLM. Image: IAI IAI is reviving the concept of using ground based ballistic missiles as air-launched weapons enabling precision strike from standoff range. Dubbed ‘SkySniper’, the weapon is configured as an autonomous, air to ground precision strike missile. Powered by a rocket motor the SkySniper strikes its target at supersonic speed. The high velocity impact with multi-purpose blast-fragmentation warhead and three-mode fuse enables effective penetration of hard targets. Tailored to destroy a wide range of targets, the missile can also detonate in airburst or impact action modes to...

North Korea on Saturday boasted of a newly developed anti-tank weapon that its leader said was so powerful it could turn the most heavily armoured enemy tanks into "boiled pumpkin". Pyongyang's state media said leader Kim Jong-Un had watched tests of the portable, laser-guided rocket and declared it had the "longest firing range in the world", and was "as accurate as a sniper's rifle". "He noted with great satisfaction that even the special armoured tanks and cars of the enemies which boast their high manoeuvrability and striking power are no more than a boiled pumpkin before the anti-tank guided weapon",...

N. Korean Long-range Missile Launch [Video from State TV] Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVogypIs2Lk

North Korea blew up rocket stage to confound analysts: South Korea The U.S., Japanese and South Korean militaries are scouring the seas for debris and analysts are studying photos, trajectories. Minutes after North Korea launched its rocket, South Korea's navy detected a rain of fragments falling into the sea and then a sooner-than-expected disappearance of the rocket from their radar, suggesting a possible failure. News outlets working in real time jumped on the idea. But it quickly proved wrong. South Korean officials and foreign analysts say they now believe the first stage of the rocket had a cagey new feature:...

SEOUL/TOKYO, Feb 7 (Reuters) - North Korea launched a long-range rocket on Sunday carrying what it has called a satellite, but its neighbours and Washington denounced the launch as a missile test, conducted in defiance of U.N. sanctions and just weeks after a nuclear bomb test. The U.S. Strategic Command said it had detected a missile entering space, and South Korea's military said the rocket had put an object into orbit. North Korea said the launch of its satellite Kwangmyongsong-4, named after late leader Kim Jong Il, was a "complete success" and that it was making a polar orbit of...

N. Korea moves up planned rocket launch to between Feb. 7-14: report 2016/02/06 18:45 TOKYO, Feb. 6 (Yonhap) -- North Korea has moved up its plan to launch a long-range rocket to between Feb. 7 and 14, Japanese media reported Saturday, citing a Tokyo government announcement. Earlier this week, Pyongyang informed the International Maritime Organization (IMO) of its plan to launch a satellite between Feb. 8 and 25. Japan's Kyodo News reported that the North has informed the IMO of its change of plan. Experts earlier expected that the North would likely launch the rocket around Feb. 16, the birthday...

/begin my excerpts U.S.: N. Korea Injecting Fuel into a Missile, Readied For Launch in a Few Days Washington = Atsushi Okudera February 5, 2016 15:00 N. Korea, which issued notice to launch a satellite, which is a de-facto ballistic missile launch, have started to inject fuel into its rocket, which was revealed to Asahi Shimbun by a U.S. defense official. It is said to be "readied for launch as early as within a few days." It could be fired in the period starting at Feb. 8, which N. Korea had set. /end my excerpts

(5th LD) N. Korea tells U.N. agencies it will launch satellite between Feb. 8-25 2016/02/03 04:49   (ATTN: ADDS U.S. reaction) By Chang Jae-soon WASHINGTON/TOKYO/SEOUL, Feb. 2 (Yonhap) -- North Korea notified a U.N. maritime agency Tuesday that it will launch a satellite later this month, confirming widespread concern the communist nation is readying for a banned long-range rocket launch just weeks after its fourth nuclear test. The North said in a letter to the International Maritime Organization (IMO) that an "earth observation satellite" will be launched between Feb. 8-25. It also provided coordinates for three maritime areas where rocket...

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.