North Korea's first reconnaissance satellite is 'alive', space experts say after detecting changes in orbit that suggest North Korea has successfully taken control of the exploration satellite, although its capabilities are still unknown. “He's alive,” he said.
After two painful failures, North Korea successfully launched the Wanrikyo-1 satellite into orbit in November. North Korea's state media claimed to have photographed secret military and political bases in South Korea, the United States and other countries, but has not released any images. Independent radio tracking devices have not detected any signals from the satellite.
“But now we can definitely say that the satellite is alive,” Marco Langbroek, a satellite expert at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands, said in a blog post on Tuesday.
Citing data from the U.S.-led Coalition Space Operations, Langbroek said that between February 19 and 24, the satellite will raise its perigee, or the lowest point in its orbit, from 488 kilometers to 497 kilometers (303.2 miles to 308.8 miles). He stated that he carried out the operation for the purpose. center.
“This exercise proves that Marigyong 1 is not dead and that North Korea is in control of the satellite, although this point has been debated,” he said.
South Korea's Defense Ministry also said it assessed the satellite was in orbit, but said it would not comment further on individual analyses. Defense Minister Shin Won-sik said Monday there was no indication that the satellite would perform other missions or engage in reconnaissance.
“We don't know for sure at this point whether the satellite has actually succeeded in taking images, but at least it's maneuvering in orbit, so in that sense it's working,” Langbroek said in a statement to Singh. I wrote about.
He said the presence of an onboard propulsion system was unexpected and the orbit-up maneuver was a surprise because previous North Korean satellites had never ascended into orbit.
“Having the ability to raise a satellite's orbit is significant,” Langbroek said.
This means, he concluded, that as long as the satellite has fuel, North Korea can extend its life by raising the satellite's altitude if orbital decay causes it to lose too much altitude.
Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer and orbit tracker at Harvard University, said the satellite would not make a hostile move toward another country's satellite, but instead would move into its original position immediately after launch, making it difficult to navigate in space. He said the satellite appears to be repositioning and said the satellite has such capabilities. It's too small. ”
The world's top space powers, the United States, Russia and China, have launched satellites in recent years that can maneuver and inspect objects in other orbits.
However, companies and countries often maneuver satellites to improve the position of objects in orbit. Various other reasons for maneuvering include avoiding other satellites or space debris or, depending on the satellite's capabilities, walking over areas of interest on Earth.
The U.S. Space Force, which tracks all active objects in orbit and sometimes assesses their capabilities, did not immediately comment on the North Korean satellite.
Nuclear-armed North Korea has announced it will launch three more spy satellites in 2024.