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Japan Launches the World's Smallest Satellite-Carrying Rocket (nasaspaceflight.com)
Japan has launched the world's smallest satellite-carrying rocket. Long-time Slashdot reader hey! writes:
Last week Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) successfully placed a three-kilogram cubesat into an 180 x 1,500 kilometer orbit at 31 degrees inclination to the equator. The payload was launched on a modified sounding rocket, called the SS-520-5. The assembled rocket weighed a mere 2600 kilograms [2.87 tons] on the launchpad, making the SS-520-5 the smallest vehicle ever to put an object into orbit.
Note that the difference in the SS-520's modest orbital capacity of four kilograms and its ability to launch 140 kilograms to 1000 kilometers on a suborbital flight. That shows how much more difficult it is to put an object into orbit than it is to merely send it into space.
Note that the difference in the SS-520's modest orbital capacity of four kilograms and its ability to launch 140 kilograms to 1000 kilometers on a suborbital flight. That shows how much more difficult it is to put an object into orbit than it is to merely send it into space.
They've used that for anti-satellite missile tests that were successful before. I'm sure that one or other of the "black ops" outfits has some such capability to quickly put spy sats in orbit.
JAXA has vehicles capable of putting over sixteen metric tons in orbit.
But if they wanted to nuke North Korea, the easiest way would be to adapt a missile fired from one of their attack submarines or guided missile destroyers.
Really, JAXA has done something cool here, and the only context people can think of it in is nukes?
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