By 
November 22nd, 2023
Image credit: KCNA
That just-launched North Korea satellite — Malligyong-1 – is indeed in Earth orbit, a first for the country after repeated attempts.
According to Marco Langbroek who runs SatTrackCam in Leiden, the Netherlands, “the U.S. Military Space Tracking network CSpOC has published orbits for two objects resulting from this launch, confirming the North Korean claim of a successful orbit insertion.”
Image credit: Marco Langbroek/SatTrackCam
Object A — tagged as nr 58400, 2023-179A — is likely the payload, Malligyong-1, and is in a 97.43 degree inclined, 512 x 493 kilometer sun-synchronous orbit.
Langbroek also notes that on November 21, according to the State News Agency KCNA, its new Malligyong-1 military reconnaissance satellite was lofted from Sohae platform 2 using a (also new) Chollima-1 rocket.
The U.S. Space Force is tracking two objects at roughly 310 miles in altitude (500 kilometers), “which supports the launch being successful,” reports T.S. Kelso of
CelesTrak.
CelesTrak has tracking data for two objects from the launch: 2023-179A and 2023-179B.
Image credit: Marco Langbroek/SatTrackCam
Rocket watcher, North Korea leader, Kim Jong Un.
Image credit: KCNA
“This was the third launch attempt,” Langbroek adds. Two earlier attempts, on May 31 and August 23 failed to reach orbit due to malfunctions of respectively the second and third Chollima stages.
Posted in Space News
