| North Korea
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Tyneside, UK
2024 Dec 14
Saturday, Day 349
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Curated by:
Timeline
Common Threads
Mission 5
Mission 4
Mission 3
Rocket Trajectories
| North Korea - List of Orbital Launch Attempts
2009-F02 - failed to reach orbit Unha 2
Tonghae Launch Centre | 2009 Apr 5, 02:31 | Kwangmyongsong 1 (Lodestar 1) |
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| Reported by North Korea as being test satellite, possibly a dummy and not necessarily aimed at orbit. Launched eastwards towards mid-latitude inclination. Lost when the third stage of the launch vehicle failed to fire and the rocket fell back. |
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2012-F01 - failed to reach orbit Unha 3
Sohae Launch Centre | 2012 Apr 12, 22:38 | Kwangmyongsong 2 (Lodestar 2) |
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| Reportedly for remote sensing. Aimed at 500km sun-synchronous orbit with descending node at 06:50 local time, mass 100 kg. Lost as the result of a launch vehicle failure around the end of the stage 1 firing or at stage 2 separation. Precise launch time 22:38:55 UTC. |
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2012-072 Unha 3
Sohae Launch Centre | 2012 Dec 12, 00:49 | Kwangmyongsong 3 (Lodestar 3) 2012-072A 39026 |
Re-entered - 2023 Sep 13
Life 3927 days
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| Reportedly for remote imaging. Mass 100 kg. Precise launch time 00:49:46 UTC, about 140 min into the window. Released from launch vehicle at 00:59:13 UTC. Launch vehicle followed a dog-leg ground track to avoid overflight of China and The Philippines during the ascent. |
epoch (UTC) | s-m axis
( km ) | ecc | perigee
( km ) | apogee
( km ) | period
( min ) | incl
( ° ) | ω
( ° ) | Desc Node
Local Time | |
| 2012 Dec 13, 17:41 | 6918 | 0.0060 | 498 | 582 | 95.44 | 97.41 | 167 | 08:59 | | | 2016 Feb 07, 22:51 | 6876 | 0.0045 | 467 | 529 | 94.58 | 97.26 | 125 | 07:20 | | | 2023 Feb 13, 10:03 | 6800 | 0.0024 | 405 | 437 | 93.00 | 97.28 | 18 | 05:04 | | | KMS 3 rocket (Unha 3) 2012-072B 39027 |
in space
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| Launched Kwangmyongsong 3, finished in higher orbit than the satellite. |
epoch (UTC) | s-m axis
( km ) | ecc | perigee
( km ) | apogee
( km ) | period
( min ) | incl
( ° ) | ω
( ° ) | | |
| 2012 Dec 13, 19:18 | 6921 | 0.0066 | 498 | 589 | 95.51 | 97.41 | 169 | | | |
2016-009 Unha 3
Sohae Launch Centre | 2016 Feb 7, 00:30 | Kwangmyongsong 4 (Lodestar 4) 2016-009A 41332 |
Re-entered - 2023 Jun 30
Life 2700 days
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| Reportedly for remote imaging. Precise launch time 00:30:00 UTC. Released from launch vehicle at 00:39:46 UTC. Launch vehicle followed a dog-leg ground track to avoid overflight of China and the Philippines during the ascent. Location of initial Argument Of Perigee suggests launch vehicle may have under-performed. First stage of the launch vehicle reportedly disintegrated into 270 pieces, possibly resulting from a deliberate explosion. |
epoch (UTC) | s-m axis
( km ) | ecc | perigee
( km ) | apogee
( km ) | period
( min ) | incl
( ° ) | ω
( ° ) | Desc Node
Local Time | |
| 2016 Feb 07, 13:13 | 6862 | 0.0027 | 465 | 502 | 94.28 | 97.53 | 337 | 08:39 | | | 2023 Feb 13, 12:21 | 6773 | 0.0012 | 386 | 403 | 92.45 | 97.22 | 162 | 10:47 | | | Unha 3 upper stage 2016-009B 41333 |
Re-entered - 2023 Jun 9
Life 2679 days
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| Third stage of Kwangmyongsong 4 launch vehicle. Perigee of the orbit is in the southern hemisphere and is significantly lower than that of the satellite, suggesting that reverse thrust was applied immediately after the satellite separated. |
epoch (UTC) | s-m axis
( km ) | ecc | perigee
( km ) | apogee
( km ) | period
( min ) | incl
( ° ) | ω
( ° ) | | |
| 2016 Feb 07, 04:41 | 6845 | 0.0050 | 433 | 502 | 93.94 | 97.53 | 336 | | | |
2023-F05 - failed to reach orbit Chollima 1 (Improved UNHA-3?)
Sohae Launch Centre | 2023 May 30, 21:27 | Malligyong 1 flight model 1 |
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| North Korean government/military optical imaging satellite aimed at 500 kilometre, sun-synchronous orbit, lost when the launch vehicle second stage either failed to separate or failed to fire. Impacted the Yellow Sea still attached to the rocket. |
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2023-F06 - failed to reach orbit Chollima 1 (Improved UNHA-3?)
Sohae Launch Centre | 2023 Aug 23, 18:50 | Malligyong 1 flight model 2 |
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| North Korean government/military optical imaging satellite aimed at 500 kilometre, sun-synchronous orbit. Second version of the satellite - the first one was lost in an earlier launch failure 2023 May 30. Destroyed when the launch vehicle third stage failed, possibly through suffering an explosion caused by inadvertent triggering of the emergency auto-destruct system. Impacted in the Yellow Sea. |
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2023-179 Chollima 1 (Improved UNHA-3?)
Sohae Launch Centre | 2023 Nov 21, 13:42 | Malligyong 1 (Malligyong 1 flight model 3) 2023-179A 58400 |
in space
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| North Korean government/military optical imaging satellite. Released from launch vehicle at 13:54 UTC. Made a series of daily orbit adjustments 2024 February 19-23. Third version of the satellite - the first two were lost in launch failures 2023 May 30 & August 23. |
epoch (UTC) | s-m axis
( km ) | ecc | perigee
( km ) | apogee
( km ) | period
( min ) | incl
( ° ) | ω
( ° ) | Desc Node
Local Time | |
| 2023 Nov 22, 00:14 | 6881 | 0.0014 | 493 | 512 | 94.67 | 97.43 | 279 | 22:00 | | | 2024 Feb 19, 13:36 | 6877 | 0.0015 | 488 | 508 | 94.58 | 97.42 | 328 | 22:00 | | | 2024 Feb 20, 14:51 | 6877 | 0.0014 | 489 | 508 | 94.58 | 97.42 | 324 | 22:00 | | | 2024 Feb 20, 19:35 | 6877 | 0.0014 | 490 | 508 | 94.59 | 97.42 | 324 | 22:00 | | | 2024 Feb 21, 19:15 | 6878 | 0.0012 | 492 | 508 | 94.62 | 97.42 | 319 | 22:00 | | | 2024 Feb 22, 22:31 | 6879 | 0.0009 | 495 | 508 | 94.64 | 97.42 | 312 | 22:00 | | | 2024 Feb 24, 04:45 | 6880 | 0.0007 | 497 | 507 | 94.66 | 97.42 | 306 | 22:00 | | | 2024 May 26, 14:45 | 6876 | 0.0008 | 492 | 503 | 94.57 | 97.41 | 350 | 22:00 | | | Chollima 1 upper stage 2023-179B 58401 |
in space
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| Launched Malligyong 1-03. |
epoch (UTC) | s-m axis
( km ) | ecc | perigee
( km ) | apogee
( km ) | period
( min ) | incl
( ° ) | ω
( ° ) | | |
| 2023 Nov 22, 00:12 | 6868 | 0.0033 | 467 | 512 | 94.40 | 97.41 | 302 | | | |
2024-F02 - failed to reach orbit Chollima 1 (Improved UNHA-3?)
Sohae Launch Centre | 2024 May 27, 13:44 | Malligyong 1 flight model 4 (Malligyong 1-1) |
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| North Korean government/military optical imaging satellite aimed at sun-synchronous orbit at about 500 kilometres height and with LTDN 22:00 in order to match the orbit plane of the earlier Malligyong 1 (58400, 2023-179A). Lost when launch vehicle first stage failed. |
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Page date: 2024 May 27
Orbits updated: 2024 Jun 03
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