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North Korean Satellite 'Tumbling Out Of Control' In Orbit: Report

North Korean Satellite 'Out Of Control'
Ryan Grenoble
By 

National Reporter, HuffPost

This picture received from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 12, 2012 shows an orbit image of the satellite Kwangmyongsong-3, being monitored on a large screen at a satellite control center in Cholsan county, North Pyongan province in North Korea. North Korea confirmed it had launched a long-range rocket and succeeded in its mission of placing a satellite into orbit. AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT 'AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS' - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS---- (Photo credit should read KNS/AFP/Getty Images)
This picture received from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on December 12, 2012 shows an orbit image of the satellite Kwangmyongsong-3, being monitored on a large screen at a satellite control center in Cholsan county, North Pyongan province in North Korea. North Korea confirmed it had launched a long-range rocket and succeeded in its mission of placing a satellite into orbit. AFP PHOTO / KCNA via KNS ---EDITORS NOTE--- RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY CREDIT 'AFP PHOTO / KCNA VIA KNS' - NO MARKETING NO ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - DISTRIBUTED AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS---- (Photo credit should read KNS/AFP/Getty Images)

North Korea successfully launched a rocket Wednesday, an act the international community condemned as a thinly veiled weapons test. North Korea has said their only intent was to place a weather satellite in orbit.

Now in orbit, though, that satellite doesn't appear to be capable of doing... well, much of anything. In fact, U.S. officials told NBC News the object appears to be "tumbling out of control."

The North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) confirmed a North Korean rocket launch was detected at 7:49 p.m. EST on Tuesday (0049 GMT Wednesday), and that "the missile deployed an object that appeared to achieve orbit." Beyond that, however, the satellite's purpose hasn't been readily apparent.

The satellite poses a collision risk to all other spacecraft in orbit, an ever-growing possibility with every new addition to our skies. The first such ever accidental collision of satellites occurred in 2009.

When North Korea attempted to launch a rocket in April of this year, one official described the satellite as a "dishwasher wrapped in tinfoil," The New York Times reports.

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