Unha-2 (Kwangmyŏngsŏng 2) [KCTV]
Unha-3 (Kwangmyŏngsŏng 3-2) [KCTV]
Unha-9 (Model) [KCTV]
The Unha rocket, which bears the western codename Taepodong-2, is North Korea's second attempt to produce a long range missile. It is thought to be capable to reach the western areas of the United States or to place a small satellite into orbit.
The Unha is a three stage launch vehicle. The rocket uses storable liquid fuel. The first stage is a new design, which features four Nodong class engines with four steering engines and is 2.40 m in diameter. IIt uses Kerosene fuel and Inhibited Red Fuming Nitric Acid oxidizer as propellants. The second stage with a 1.5 m diameter features a Scud-class engine and uses also kerosene and nitric acid. The 1.2 m diameter third stage could be related to the second stage of the Iranian Safir rocket and uses UDMH and NTO as fuels.
The first launch (Unha-1 ?) was most likely a test flight of the missile configuration or a suborbital test flight.
A second launch attempt featuring a three stage rocket (Unha-2) was conducted in April 2009, but failed to orbit its payload.
A launch of an Unha-3 was conducted in April 2012, but failed to reach orbit. The rocket appears externally mostly identical to the Unha-2 rocket, but the third stage appears slightly stretched. A second flight of the Unha-3 was successfully conducted in December 2012. The third flight was of identical appearance, but was referred by the name Kwangmyŏngsŏng instead of Unha-3. It appears to have under performed.
A model of a Unha-9 was displayed in December 2012. This version appears to feature a stretched first stage.
|Version||Stage 1||Stage 2||Stage 3|
|Unha-1 ?||Stage 1 / 4 × Nodong-class engine||?||?|
|Unha-2||Stage 1 / 4 × Nodong-class engine||Stage 2 / Scud-class engine||Stage 3 / 2 × ?|
|Unha-3 (Kwangmyŏngsŏng)||Stage 1 / 4 × Nodong-class engine||Stage 2 / Scud-class engine||Stage 3 (str.) / 2 × ?|
|Unha-9||Stage 1 (str.) / 4 × Nodong-class engine||Stage 2 / Scud-class engine||Stage 3 (str.) / 2 × ?|
No: TNo: Type Date LS Payload
1 1 Unha-1 ? 04.07.2006 F * To R&D ? 2 1 Unha-2 05.04.2009 F To Kwangmyŏngsŏng 2 3 1 Unha-3 12.04.2012 F So Kwangmyŏngsŏng 3 4 2 Unha-3 12.12.2012 So Kwangmyŏngsŏng 3-2 5 3 Unha-3 07.02.2016 p So Kwangmyŏngsŏng 4 Planned launches: Launch sites: So = Sŏhae Satellite Center, Ch’ŏlsan County, North P’yŏngan Province, North Korea To = Tonghae (Musudan-ri), Hwadae County, Hamgyong Province, North Korea * = suborbital Failures: 1: Vehicle failed after ~40 sec 2: Stage 3 failed 3: Vehicle failed during stage 1 burn 5: Vehicle underperformed