nk-missile-tests: North Korea Missile Test Visualization
An interactive visualization of flight tests of all missiles launched by North Korea from 1984 to 2026. The real-time positions of North Korea's satellites are also visualized on the globe.
See a Live Demo.
Usage
Operation | Description --- | --- Mouse drag or swipe | Rotate the globe Mouse wheel rotation or pinch in/out | Zoom in/out Click or tap +/- buttons | Zoom in/out Shift key + Mouse drag or three-finger swipe | Tilt up/down Click or tap the tilt buttons | Tilt up/down Click or tap a test label on the map | Select a test Enter a date or test name in the text field | Search for a test Click or tap ABOUT button | See the information on the database and references Click, tap or drag the timeline bar | Select a year Click or tap the graph icon | Show or hide the histogram Click or tap SUCCESS, FAILURE and UNKNOWN buttons | Filter tests out by outcome Click or tap missile check marks | Filter tests out by missile name
About Data
The data for this visualization are sourced from the CNS North Korea Missile Test Database, which is the first database to record flight tests of all missiles launched by North Korea capable of delivering a payload of at least 500 kilograms (1102.31 pounds) a distance of at least 300 kilometers (186.4 miles). The database captures advancements in North Korea's missile program by documenting all such tests since the first one occurred in April 1984, and will be routinely updated as events warrant.
The CNS North Korea Missile Test Database doesn't include the exact landing locations, so we have added bearing information from other sources such as Japan Ministry of Defense, and landing locations are calculated based on locations of launching facilities and distances travelled.
The data of the satellite orbits are sourced from CelesTrak, which is a web-based service for satellite and space debris tracking.
Acknowledgements
nk-missile-tests is largely inspired by Arms Globe Visualization project by the Google Data Arts Team, and uses the code from it.
The CNS North Korea Missile Test Database is created by the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies for the Nuclear Threat Initiative.
nk-missile-tests is using orb.js to calculate the positions of North Korea's satellites. orb.js is made by Isana Kashiwai and licensed under the MIT license.
License
nk-missile-tests is available under the Apache license 2.0.