Update: NORAD reports that the satellite launched by North Korea on Superbowl Sunday is now stable and active.

On Sunday, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) launched a rocket carrying a satellite into orbit despite protests from neighboring countries and the US that it is a violation of previous agreements on missile testing. The Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 satellite, an "earth observation satellite" ostensibly for monitoring agricultural output, apparently reached orbit. But the satellite is apparently tumbling out of control, according to a US Department of Defense official.

Meanwhile, in testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee Tuesday morning, Director of National Intelligence James Clapper said that intelligence has confirmed that North Korea has resumed production of plutonium at a reactor in Yongbyon. The regime of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un had announced the return to production operations in September of 2015. Clapper said that "North Korea has been operating the reactor long enough so that it could begin to recover plutonium from the reactor's spent fuel in a matter of weeks to months."

The launch, the renewed plutonium production, and the test last month of a "boosted" nuclear warhead (which North Korea claimed was a hydrogen bomb) have all been seen as evidence that North Korea is moving forward with development of nuclear ballistic missiles that could potentially reach the west coast of the United States. Timed both to coincide with lunar new year celebrations and the Super Bowl in the US, the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4 satellite flew over the San Francisco Bay area just an hour after the end of Super Bowl 50.

This is the second North Korean satellite to achieve orbit, though just as with its predecessor, the usefulness of the satellite is in doubt. The US Strategic Command reported detecting two objects achieving orbit after the launch—likely the satellite and its final boost stage. An unnamed DOD official told CNN that the satellite was tumbling and essentially useless—just as happened with the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-3 Unit 2 satellite in December of 2012. North Korea claims that all of its previous satellite launches have been successful.

While the satellite may be tumbling, the placement of both the satellite and its final boost stage into orbit could be seen as a developmental test for intercontinental ballistic missile technology. While there are several arguments against the Kwangmyŏngsŏng-4's launch rocket actually being useful as a nuclear ballistic missile—it can't exactly launch on alert because it is liquid fueled, and its design is more in line with the role of satellite delivery—it has many things in common with North Korea's other ballistic missile efforts. The engines are based on those of the "Scud" liquid-fueled ballistic missile, and North Korea's submarine-launched ballistic missile is also apparently based on the Scud's engines.

The UN Security Council met on Sunday in the wake of the satellite launch, strongly condemning it. China's UN delegation joined in the condemnation, and the Chinese government called North Korea's ambassador in for a tongue-lashing over the launch. No significant new sanctions were agreed to immediately, but the launch has also led to the South Korean government's decision to work with the US military in deploying the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense System, a theater ballistic missile defense—which has also raised concerns with China.

In all, the North Korean satellite launch may have succeeded in the one thing the Kim regime really wanted out of it: to elevate concerns enough that diplomatic concessions would have to be made by the US and its allies, or to simply demonstrate an embryonic nuclear deterrent capability to dissuade any thoughts of future military action. But it has also triggered debate in South Korea over whether South Korea should also develop its own nuclear weapons.