North Korea on the moon? Experts aren't convinced
Postmedia Network and The Associated Press
First posted: Thursday, August 04, 2016 11:56 AM EDT | Updated: Thursday, August 04, 2016 12:13 PM EDT
PYONGYANG, North Korea - It can't figure out how to feed its own people, but North Korea hopes to see its flag on the moon within the next 10 years.
In an interview with The Associated Press, a senior official at North Korea's version of NASA said international sanctions won't stop the country's progress into space.
"Even though the U.S. and its allies try to block our space development, our aerospace scientists will conquer space and definitely plant the flag of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) on the moon," said Hyon Kwang Il, director of the scientific research department of North Korea's National Aerospace Development Administration.
An unmanned, no-frills North Korean moon mission in the not-too-distant future isn't as far-fetched as it might seem. Outside experts say it's ambitious, but conceivable.
While the U.S. is the only country to have conducted manned lunar missions, other nations have sent unmanned spacecraft there and have in that sense planted their flags.
"It would be a significant increase in technology, not one that is beyond them, but you have to debug each bit," Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who maintains an exhaustive blog on international satellites and satellite launches, said in an email to the AP.
Hyon said the current five-year plan, at the order of leader Kim Jong Un, focuses on launching more Earth observation satellites.
North Korea has marked a number of successes in its space program -- and, of course, in its development of ever-more-sophisticated long-range missiles for military use. On Wednesday, it test-fired what was believed to be a medium-range ballistic missile into the seas off Japan, the fourth reported weapons launch it has carried out in about two weeks.
Hyon said North Korea's long-term target is to use its satellites to provide data for crop and forestry assessments and improved communications. It also intends "to do manned spaceflight and scientific experiments in space, make a flight to the moon and moon exploration and also exploration to other planets."
North Korea currently has two satellites in orbit, KMS-3-2 and KMS-4. It put its first satellite in orbit in 2012, a feat few other countries have achieved. Rival South Korea, for example, has yet to do so.
German analyst Markus Schiller, one of the world's foremost experts on North Korea's missiles and rockets, doubts the country will have success getting to the moon, however.
"Judging from what I have seen so far with their space program, it will take North Korea about a decade or more to get to lunar orbit at best -- if they really pursue this mission," he said. "My personal guess, however, is that they might try but they will fail, and we will not see a successful North Korea lunar orbiter for at least two decades, if ever."
In this Feb. 23, 2016, file photo, North Koreans cycle past a planetarium at the Three Revolutions Exhibition Hall in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean space officials are hard at work on a five-year plan to put more advanced satellites into orbit by 2020, and don't intend to stop there: They're also aiming for the moon, and beyond. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)
North Korea on the moon? Experts aren't convinced | World | News | Toronto Sun
Postmedia Network and The Associated Press
First posted: Thursday, August 04, 2016 11:56 AM EDT | Updated: Thursday, August 04, 2016 12:13 PM EDT
PYONGYANG, North Korea - It can't figure out how to feed its own people, but North Korea hopes to see its flag on the moon within the next 10 years.
In an interview with The Associated Press, a senior official at North Korea's version of NASA said international sanctions won't stop the country's progress into space.
"Even though the U.S. and its allies try to block our space development, our aerospace scientists will conquer space and definitely plant the flag of the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) on the moon," said Hyon Kwang Il, director of the scientific research department of North Korea's National Aerospace Development Administration.
An unmanned, no-frills North Korean moon mission in the not-too-distant future isn't as far-fetched as it might seem. Outside experts say it's ambitious, but conceivable.
While the U.S. is the only country to have conducted manned lunar missions, other nations have sent unmanned spacecraft there and have in that sense planted their flags.
"It would be a significant increase in technology, not one that is beyond them, but you have to debug each bit," Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics who maintains an exhaustive blog on international satellites and satellite launches, said in an email to the AP.
Hyon said the current five-year plan, at the order of leader Kim Jong Un, focuses on launching more Earth observation satellites.
North Korea has marked a number of successes in its space program -- and, of course, in its development of ever-more-sophisticated long-range missiles for military use. On Wednesday, it test-fired what was believed to be a medium-range ballistic missile into the seas off Japan, the fourth reported weapons launch it has carried out in about two weeks.
Hyon said North Korea's long-term target is to use its satellites to provide data for crop and forestry assessments and improved communications. It also intends "to do manned spaceflight and scientific experiments in space, make a flight to the moon and moon exploration and also exploration to other planets."
North Korea currently has two satellites in orbit, KMS-3-2 and KMS-4. It put its first satellite in orbit in 2012, a feat few other countries have achieved. Rival South Korea, for example, has yet to do so.
German analyst Markus Schiller, one of the world's foremost experts on North Korea's missiles and rockets, doubts the country will have success getting to the moon, however.
"Judging from what I have seen so far with their space program, it will take North Korea about a decade or more to get to lunar orbit at best -- if they really pursue this mission," he said. "My personal guess, however, is that they might try but they will fail, and we will not see a successful North Korea lunar orbiter for at least two decades, if ever."
In this Feb. 23, 2016, file photo, North Koreans cycle past a planetarium at the Three Revolutions Exhibition Hall in Pyongyang, North Korea. North Korean space officials are hard at work on a five-year plan to put more advanced satellites into orbit by 2020, and don't intend to stop there: They're also aiming for the moon, and beyond. (AP Photo/Wong Maye-E, File)
North Korea on the moon? Experts aren't convinced | World | News | Toronto Sun
