Satellite Imaging Corporation’s featured photo this month is an IKONOS satellite image of North Korea’s Taepodong Missile Launch Complex.

In June, the site became the focus of a US State Department attention, as the N. Korean government apparently concluded the fueling procedures for what is alleged to be the “Taepodong-2″ ballistic missile, which is believed to have a flight range of somewhere between 2500 and 9000 miles, along with the ability to carry a 2000-lb payload.

For reference, Pyongyang, N. Korea is about 6000 miles from Los Angeles, and about 7200 miles from New York City.

On June 19, USA Today reported that a full fueling of the missile typically leaves a 30-day launch opportunity, since the process is “difficult to reverse.” Consequently, US officials are concerned that a test of the missile, which violates an agreement that North Korea has upheld since 1999, is imminent.

Satellite Imaging Corp.’s high-resolution photo of the Taepodong Missile Complex shows the missile checkout and assembly building, mission control building, and the actual launching pad for the Taepodong-2 missile. The image was captured on June 16, 2006 with the IKONOS Satellite Sensor at a resolution of .82 meters.

See additional photos in the SIC IKONOS satellite image gallery.

This entry was posted by Erik Dafforn on Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 at 8:37 am and is filed under Defense & Intelligence, Energy and Infrastructure, Geospatial Technology, IKONOS, Remote Sensing and Image Processing, Satellite Image Data, Satellite Image of the Month, Satellite Industry News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.