By Pam Benson
While the Obama administration is urging North Korea not to go ahead with its expected rocket launch, the launch does present one benefit: The U.S. intelligence community will get the rare opportunity to more precisely see just how far North Korea has progressed with its long-range missile technology program since its last launch three years ago.
Although North Korea says it is merely deploying an Earth observation satellite, something it has failed at doing in the past, the United States believes the secretive nation is really testing technology that would also enable it to fire a ballistic missile carrying a warhead, one that could potentially strike the United States.
But the real question is whether the rocket performs as intended, especially that third stage, which releases the satellite.
FULL POST
By Elise Labott
As North Korea prepares to commemorate the 100th birthday of its late founder Kim Il Sung with the launch of a satellite into orbit, the United States is bracing for more drama the day after.
It's what administration officials refer to as the North Korean "two-step," in which one daring act by Pyongyang is followed by another. This time, Washington and its allies are expecting North Korea to conduct a third nuclear bomb test shortly after the launch.
In April 2009, North Korea followed up a long-range missile test with a nuclear test. Then, after North Korea sunk the South Korean navy warship Cheonan in March 2010, it topped itself later that year by shelling South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island in the Yellow Sea off the countries' west coast.
By Adam Levine
In an unprecedented move, North Korea allowed international media, including CNN's Stan Grant, Tim Schwarz and Scott Clotworthy, to visit its Tongchang-ri launch site and see, for the first time, the Unha-3 rocket being readied for its launch.
North Korean crew works on the booster stage of the Unha-3
By Jamie Crawford
North Korea may have begun to stack the rocket for an upcoming missile launch, according to an academic group's analysis of a recent satellite image.
The blog 38 North, run by the School of Advanced International Studies at Johns Hopkins University, had access to an April 4 image from a commercial satellite firm that showed what is consistent with operations to erect a rocket in anticipation of launch.
The image revealed some sort of enclosure around the work platform of the mobile launch pad that had not been seen in previous satellite images.
By Adam Levine
A new image of the North Korean launch pad at Tongchang-dong Space Launch Center (see photo above the story) shows what IHS Jane's Defense Weekly analyst Allison Puccioni says is "specific activity" on the pad, as well as at the rocket checkout assembly facility. The March 31 image was provided to CNN by GeoEye.
Read more about North Korea's missile technology
Puccioni compared the new image to a GeoEye image from March 20th and March 28th. She notes the gantry on the umbilical tower has changed directions and more vehicles and objects are seen parked around the launch tower. What are likely fuel containers have been uncovered and stacked behind the fuel system, according to Puccioni. FULL POST
By Larry Shaughnessy
If North Korea launches a missile in the next couple of weeks, as it has promised, it will be the result of international cooperation stretching from Moscow to Tehran and, perhaps, Beijing.
Experts who track North Korea's space program expect the communist regime will roll out a somewhat improved version of the Taepodong-2 (or the Unha-2 as North Korea refers to it) missile it last tested in April 2009.
The Taepodong-2 has never had a completely successful launch but, according to David Wright of the Union of Concerned Scientists, "We can go back and model that (2009) trajectory pretty well. The trajectory certainly appears to be the kind of trajectory they would have used for a satellite launch."
By Adam Levine
With North Korea's anticipated launch of a satellite-topped long-range missile set for within the next two weeks, more activity should soon be evident from the satellite images being collected from the skies above.
The expected launch is meant to commemorate what would have been the the 100th birthday of Kim Il Sung , who founded communist North Korea and is grandfather to current leader, Kim Jong Un. The regime informed the International Maritime Organisation that the satellite will be launched between April 12 and April 16.
Some activity has already been seen in commercial imagery made available of the Tongchang-dong Space Launch Center, although the latest image showed no sign of the actual rocket. FULL POST
By Adam Levine
A new satellite image has captured increased activity on North Korea's launch pad as the country prepares for its controversial missile launch in mid-April.
The DigitalGlobe image taken on March 28 shows trucks on the Tongch'ang-ni launch pad. Atop the umbilical tower, which sits beside where the assembled rocket will stand, a crane arm that will be used to lift the rocket stages has been swung wide.
While South Korean media are reporting the first stage of the rocket - known as the booster - has been moved to the launch facility, DigitalGlobe Senior Analyst Joseph Bermudez said that is not visible in this image. FULL POST
By Adam Levine
A new satellite image of the launch pad expected to be used by North Korea next month shows no sign yet of any launch activity.
Satellite imagery company GeoEye provided CNN a new image of the site from where North Korea's controversial rocket launch will take place.
The image of the Tongch'ang-dong facility was taken on March 20 by GeoEye. It shows no missile or launch vehicle visible, according to an analysis by GlobalSecurity.org's Tim Brown. FULL POST
By Pam Benson
A Washington think tank says it has identified the building at an Iranian military base where international inspectors suspect Iran may have conducted explosives tests connected with a possible nuclear weapons program.
In an exclusive interview with Security Clearance, David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, said commercial satellite imagery shows a building on the sprawling Parchin military complex just south of Tehran that may be the location of a high-explosive test chamber.
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