Black wind

component is the actual launch initiation and flight control. During a normal launch at sea, the Sea Launch assembly and command ship performs these controls. For our launch, this duty will be handled by the Baekje. We have refitted the ship with the necessary communications equipment and computer hardware required to execute the launch and flight control,” Lee-Wook said, his voice almost at a whisper. “Our last input has been the software that monitors, tracks, and commands the launch vehicle. The actual launch from the floating platform is a highly automated process, so the software plays a critical role. There are several million lines of software code that support the launch, telemetry, and tracking phases.”
    “Have we re-created the necessary software for our mission?”
    “It would have required many months to write and test the software on our own. We were fortunate in that all of these software programs are contained within the databases of the assembly and command ship. As the payload customer, our team has had almost unlimited access to the ship for the last three weeks while the Koreasat 2 satellite was being integrated with the launch vehicle. Once on board, our systems team found it relatively easy to breach the vessel’s mainframe computers and acquire the software code. Under the nose of their computer experts, we downloaded copies of the software and, over a four-day period, transmitted the code by satellite link direct from the Sea Launch vessel to our laboratory at Inchon.”
    “But I was told the Baekje, or Koguryo as she is now called, left port a day ago.”
    “We have already transferred a portion of the program to the shipboard computers and will download the remaining software while the ” ship is in transit via satellite.”
    “And you have determined the optimal flight path to achieve maximum dispersal of the agent?” Kang asked.
    “We can theoretically launch up range of the target as far as four thousand kilometers away; however, the probability of accurately striking the target is quite small. There is no guidance system for the suborbital payload, so we are relying on wind, thrust, and launch positioning to reach the strike zone. Utilizing normal Pacific wind conditions, our Ukrainian engineers have determined that positioning the launch platform approximately four hundred kilometers up range of the target will maximize the accuracy of delivery. Adjusting for atmospheric conditions at the time of launch, we can expect the payload to fall to earth within a five-kilometer radius.”
    “But the aerosol system will be activated well before that,” the first engineer injected.
    “Correct. At an elevation of six thousand meters, the aerosol, or payload system, will be activated. This will occur shortly after the nose cone fairing has been discarded during flight. In its descent, the payload system will be traveling nearly eight kilometers downrange for every one kilometer of descent. A vapor trail of the armed agent will thus be dispersed along a forty-eight-kilometer-long corridor.”
    “I would have preferred that the launch not take place so close to the North American mainland,” Kang said with a wrinkled brow, “but if the accuracy of the mission dictates such then so be it. The flight trajectory will be controlled by the rocket burn?”
    “Precisely. The Zenit-3SL is a three-stage rocket designed for pushing heavy payloads into high orbit. But our desired maximum altitude is less than fifty kilometers, so we will not fuel the second and third stages and will short-fuel the first stage. We can terminate the burn at any time, which we will program to do at slightly over a minute into the flight. As the launch vehicle coasts in flight to the east, we’ll initiate separation of the payload section from the rocket boosters, then release the payload housing. The mock satellite will deploy the aerosol system automatically and disperse the agent until impact.”
    “Are we positive the American missile defense systems pose no risk?”
    “The American antiballistic system is still in its infancy. It is geared toward intercontinental ballistic missiles that are launched from thousands of miles away. They will have no time to react. Even if they did, their intercept missiles would arrive after we have initiated separation. They might harmlessly destroy the rocket boosters at best. No, sir, there will be no stopping the payload deployment once we have launched.”
    “I am