As you all know by now, North Korea launched a rocket on 5 Apr 2009 around 02:30:00.00 UTC. AGI worked prior to the launch to create videos and VDFs that demonstrate how our software can be applied to analyze events like this. If you haven’t had a chance to check out the videos, visit www.agi.com/northkorea to download and view them. We’ve also put together a 15-minute video that walks through the rationale of how we actually built out the scenario behind the videos. It talks about modeling the satellite from launch to orbit using open source data available for not only the launch vehicle, but the type of orbit North Korea could shoot for before the launch actually took place. There is some collision avoidance analysis and discussion on how our launch windows can be calculated based on possible collisions. There is also some analyses on the best placement of defense assets (such as the Aegis) to detect and track the launch. We also talk about how we distinguished a satellite launch from a missile launch and the differences in the trajectory, not just visually but analytically as well. Finally we did some reconstruction of the event after it took place and how you can refine your analyses once new data comes in. Remember, this is just an example of how the software can be used to analyze this event; it’s not a complete analysis of it. I’m the one that narrates the video so if you watch it and have any questions, feel free to post them here and I’ll get back to you as quickly as I can. Click here to watch the video. Enjoy!

Till Next Time,
Rocket Girl (aka Amanda)