South Korea salvages Kim's 1st Stage

[2IDSGT]

One of the drawbacks of being a hermit kingdom that's straining every economic gasket to build an ICBM: no means to prevent sworn enemies from picking up pieces of your booster. The US could have only dreamed of this kind of access when the Russians and Chinese were developing long-range rockets.

Lifted from the Intercepts Blog: http://blogs.defensenews.com/intercepts/2012/12/photo-of-the-day-dec-14-2012-north-korean-missile-reckage-edition/#more-2631

 

[quellish]

One of the drawbacks of being a hermit kingdom that's straining every economic gasket to build an ICBM: no means to prevent sworn enemies from picking up pieces of your booster. The US could have only dreamed of this kind of access when the Russians and Chinese were developing long-range rockets.

SAND DOLLAR was a long running program to recover such hardware:
http://books.google.com/books?id=Ih8MVZlibxYC&lpg=PA302&ots=9It-LSrLnm&dq=craven%20%22SAND%20DOLLAR%22&pg=PA131#v=onepage&q=%22SAND%20DOLLAR%22&f=false

http://books.google.com/books?id=oBQ-4c85T-wC&lpg=PA50&ots=qFl7BTzQ7g&dq=craven%20%22SAND%20DOLLAR%22&pg=PA50#v=onepage&q=craven%20%22SAND%20DOLLAR%22&f=false

 

[2IDSGT]

Sand Dollar was different. The USN had to use specially modified submarines in order to avoid attracting Soviet attention/interference... and they could only hope for fragments. In this case, it would appear that the South Koreans have a much simpler job, and are able to easily recover sizable chunks.

 

[chuck4]

Actually, our jetisoned or lost hardware were also often picked up by the Soviets or Chinese to add to their own intelligence trove. Take for example the Mk-48 ADCAP and MK-46. The Chinese fished samples out of South China Sea and reverse engineered them to equip their own submarines and surface ships.

 

[quellish]

Sand Dollar was different. The USN had to use specially modified submarines in order to avoid attracting Soviet attention/interference... and they could only hope for fragments. In this case, it would appear that the South Koreans have a much simpler job, and are able to easily recover sizable chunks.

SAND DOLLAR used a variety of deep submergence systems to retrieve hardware from the ocean floor, not just modified fleet submarines like Halibut, Parche, or Carter. It would be safe to assume that large, mostly intact objects were recovered. The primary mission of SAND DOLLAR at it's inception, after all, was the recovery of Soviet RVs and ballistic missile hardware.

Somewhat related:
http://www.nro.gov/foia/declass/HEXAGON%20Recovery.html

 

[Archibald]

Take that, Elon Musk - North Rocket has a recoverable rocket long before your Falcon 9.

 

[2IDSGT]

Take that, Elon Musk - North Rocket has a recoverable rocket long before your Falcon 9.

;D Now that's funny.

 

[Hanse]

Where are the nozzles? Break off at impact?

 

[Trident]

Got to love the missile-shaped posts holding the barrier tape

 

[chuck4]

Where are the nozzles? Break off at impact?

It's just the tank section. The entire section supporting the power pack, and the engine bell broke off. The bottom of the tank shows where the plumbing connections were ripped off.

 

[Archibald]

Take that, Elon Musk - North Rocket has a recoverable rocket long before your Falcon 9.

;D Now that's funny.

I'm looking at my screen / and my message goes boom...

Second try

Take that, Elon Musk - North Rocket KOREA has a recoverable rocket long before your Falcon 9.