N Korea launch was vertical

ftkyte

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday July 04, 2017 · 10:24 AM PDT

2017/07/04 · 10:24

The launch of an ICBM by North Korea got lots of news and politics. It’s also interesting for another reason. They didn’t actually aim it anywhere, they literally shot it straight up with a vertical launch.

from Washington Post

In a special announcement on state television, North Korea said it launched a Hwasong-14 missile that flew about 579 miles, reaching an altitude of 1,741 miles. The U.S. military said it was in the air for 37 minutes, a duration that signals a significant improvement in North Korea’s technology, experts said.

They didn’t aim it 579 mile east, they just launched it straight up (or at a slight angle) and let the Earth rotate away beneath it.

At the equator, the Earth’s rotational velocity is 1000 mph. At 40 degrees Latitude, it’s about 800 mph. So with the Earth’s rotation at 800 mph for 37 minutes, Korea will rotate away about 500 miles west and the missile will land about 500 miles to the east. Close enough for back-of- the-envelope….

my first diary, hope you find it interesting

RSS