Could the North Korean Satellite Unha-3 release an EMP?

Hello friends,

I'm not really concerned about the end of the world on the 21st. I am worried about North Korea having a 'runaway' satellite, Unha-3, orbiting the atmosphere. How do we even know it's just a satellite? Couldn't it be a nuclear weapon disguised as a rogue satellite?

Pyongyang says the device, the size of a washing machine, is working and is beaming revolutionary songs to Earth. But US astronomer Jonathan McDowell says it may be tumbling, and does not yet appear to be transmitting.

North Korea satellite-BBC
The New York Times article

It's the size of a washing machine and is beaming revolutionary music. Why revolutionary songs? Are they getting ready for war?

How big does a nuke have to be to cause an Electromagnetic Pulse that could shut down a country?

What if the reason Mr. Mcdowell say's the satellite is not transmitting is because it's only made to receive and by that I mean it's waiting on the detonator to transmit.

I'm sure the washing machine size is an estimate so what if it was bigger and it was actually a nuke just waiting for the right orbit over the right city, state, country at the right time?

List of All U.S. Nuclear Weapons and their sizes


These bombs vary in size and are all bigger than a washing machine but some of them weren't much larger so a washing machine size bomb would most likely create a EMP but how large and how much of an area would it cover?
A lot of questions and I don't know the answers. I just find it alarming there is an object floating around up there and we don't know it's intentions.

There is even the possibility that this satellite is meant to take out other satellites orbiting the Earth.

Remember the video game trailer for 'Homefront' where North Korea takes over the world? The video at 2:46 shows a satellite doing just what I mentioned above. Life imitating art?




Is it paranoia, perhaps, but what if it's not?

TheLieWeLive

I've been wondering about this ever since they launched it and have been taking the term "satellite" for it with nothing more than a grain of sand. It might just be my untrusting nature, but I think they could very possibly be up to something sinister. The question is though, did they really have the technology?

You raise one of my largest concerns right now, to be sure. This:



Is what 3.8 Megatons detonated in the low reaches of space looks like. It happened over Johnston Island in 1958 and knocked out some electrical in Hawaii roughly 900 miles away. So...figure a 900 mile radius? Err...not pretty. I'm not sure how hard it is to make BIG ones, once you master making anything nuclear. I mean if controlling yield doesn't concern you and just making it go boom in a huge huge way...whatever that means...is literally the level of technical requirement to being happy? (Which an EMP blast would need little more than that to be workable) Well.... Ouch



Those are the atmospheric and space nuclear detonations conducted in test series...how high they were...and of course, the names and dates to go research if anyone wants. They each have their tales of screw ups and dramatic effect for EMP.

Originally posted by Myomistress
I've been wondering about this ever since they launched it and have been taking the term "satellite" for it with nothing more than a grain of sand. It might just be my untrusting nature, but I think they could very possibly be up to something sinister. The question is though, did they really have the technology?

Maybe they don't have the technology but other countries do and we can't be sure who is trading with who. I have an untrusting nature also so it could be that or maybe it's the saying 'better to be safe than sorry'.

It doesn't have to be an EMP or a nuke to cause massive destruction.

There are tens of thousands of objects in orbit. One big enough explosion with projectiles flying in the proper directions, without even using any precise timing, could create a debris field large enough to cause a chain reaction of utter destruction of our orbiting objects. I think of it as the equivalent of a Korean pipe bomb compared to a military controlled demolition. It wouldn't take much to reach the goal.

Something as simple as this could destroy our communications. (a LOT goes through satellites) It could rain down debris on earth, creating a lot of devastation, property loss, agricultural damage, fires, etc. There could be weapons of other kinds (ones we don't know about) that are better left in space due to the radiation or other threats they pose on the surface.

When Iran was able to demonstrate their ability to reach orbit, I worried then just as I am now about this Korean satellite. I would not be surprised if that was their intent all along.

~Namaste

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


I noticed those dates being some 50 years ago too. They've gotten better with everything else so it's not farfetched to think that they've could have bigger results with smaller bombs by now.

reply to post by SonOfTheLawOfOne


I see what you mean. A claymore like effect that would knock out untold communication satellites or maybe even "Star Wars" weaponry that could already be in orbit since the 80's.

I also wonder if this is why the X37-b spy plane was sent up the same day. I know it was already planned to go up earlier but is it a coincidence it was delayed and then launched the same day N. Korea launched their missile? I doubt it.

Don't sweat it...

We launched this thing at around the same time.

www.staradvertiser.com...

I just saw your post above mine lol... good point.

www.youtube.com...

Mini EMP being tested? What would it look like if it were? Would it look like this?

How is it beaming revolutionary songs, but not transmitting?

isnt that the same thing?

ETA:
Ohhh NK says its beaming / working

reply to post by jessieg


I don't know what that is. I was thinking a outdoor concert or fireworks but there doesn't seem to be any noise?

They have devices that can emit EMP's and you wouldn't even know it until your car rolled to a stop or everything electrical stopped working. It doesn't have to be a nuclear device to create one.

reply to post by TheLieWeLive


Didn't we just successfully test an EMP missile? I read about it somewhere. It uses an EMP to knock out power to buildings and stuff.

Yes

God damn the rules I don't have much more to say too xmassy to detail but YES..... they absolutely can its a high likelihood that is what is up there they are uni directional in thought.... it's what I would do in there position

reply to post by Bone75


It seems I read something on that too.

Have you seen this video? It's a Ford Taurus driving through a EMP. The device just emits the EMP within a 50 foot radius. Makes you wonder what a missile would or could do.