bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

paywallTypes

createdDate

publishedDate

urlAlias

moreOnThisArticles

sponsorType

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

corrections

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

articleSpeeches

socialHeadline

headline

images

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

Stephen Chen

The unsuccessful rocket launch on Sunday could affect future Chinese space programmes, according to experts.
Important projects including lunar exploration and space construction could be delayed, they said.
The Long March 5 Y2, or CZ-5, is the newest and largest member of China’s rocket fleet. It blasted off from Wenchang Space Launch Centre in southern China’s Hainan province carrying the Sijian-18, an experimental communications satellite and the heaviest China ever built, at 7.23pm.
An hour later, Chinese government declared the launch a failure.

Chinese space authorities said the reason was still under investigation. The flight command in Beijing made efforts to save the mission, including changing the flight path, before the satellite plunged in the Pacific Ocean.


It was China’s second launch mishap in less than two weeks. On June 19, a CZ-3 rocket launched from Xichang Satellite Launch Centre in Sichuan province failed to deliver a television broadcasting satellite into orbit.
Latest Long March rocket fails after launch from southern China
China’s Long March rockets have been known for their reliability. Failures were rare, and two so close together is almost unprecedented.
“The two Chinese launch failures occurred with different rockets and were probably for different reasons. There is no connection between the two failures,” said Dr Morris Jones, a space expert based in Australia.
Jones said other nations had sometimes experienced similar clusters of failures.
“This is just bad luck,” he said.
The failure of CZ-5 would delay China’s lunar mission and possibly the Chinese space station, because both projects depended on heavy-lift vehicles, Jones said.

China planned to launch the Chang’e 5, a large unmanned spacecraft, to the moon by the end of this year. Its mission was to land a rover on the dark side of the moon and bring back rock and soil samples.
The mission would prepare China for more ambitious projects on the moon including landing humans and building a settlement, according to earlier state media reports.
Why China’s aerospace experts have become Xi Jinping’s new political elite
“I do not believe that the Chang’e lunar sample return mission will launch this year, as originally planned,” said Dr Jones.
Professor Wang Jianyu, commander in chief of China’s quantum satellite project who was also involved in lunar exploration missions, agreed.
“Delays are possible. The rocket cannot fly until we find out the problem and solve it, and that will take time,” he said.

The CZ-5 is one of the world’s heaviest rocket in service today. Its design and construction is in many ways different to similar rockets in the West. For instance, its relatively small engines can generate greater thrust than some larger engines in Europe and Japan, but pushing their performance also incurs risk.
The first launch of CZ-5 was also conducted last year, in Hainan. The mission was successful, but nearly missed the launch window as a technical glitch caused an unexpected delay lasting hours.
“Innovation in science and technology often comes with failures. The investigation of this accident will be thorough and open,” Wang said.
China’s 30-year long march to its biggest ever rocket launch
China also plans to complete the construction of its first space station early next decade, aiming to replace the International Space Station after its retirement as the biggest man-made facility in space. The Chinese space station’s core module, scheduled to launch in 2019, requires the heavy-lift capability of CZ-5.
Chinese government also plans to use the CZ-5 to accelerate construction of Beidou, a global satellite navigation system pitched as China’s answer to the United States’ Global Positioning System, or GPS. As the CZ-5 can launch multiple Beidou satellites in one mission, it could have helped China’s plan to launch dozens more positioning satellites to establish global coverage by 2020.


Soft brain chip could help solve Neuralink’s big implant challenge

China urged to bring Japan’s Unit 731 to court for crimes against humanity

China is no longer a follower in the race for quantum supremacy

WHO responds to agency chief’s alleged pledge to ‘strengthen ties’ with Taiwan

Science

China’s moon programme takes a hit due to Long March rocket failure

The Long March 5 rocket at the Wenchang Space Launch Centre on June 26. Photo: Xinhua

The Long March-5 Y2 rocket takes off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Wenchang, Hainan Province, China July 2, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. CHINA OUT.

People watch the launch of the Long March-5 Y2 rocket from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Wenchang, Hainan Province, China, July 2, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. CHINA OUT. NO COMMERCIAL OR EDITORIAL SALES IN CHINA.

(170422) -- BEIJING, April 22, 2017 (Xinhua) -- Photo taken on April 22, 2017 shows the Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft moving towards the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab for the automated docking on a screen at Beijing Aerospace Control Center in Beijing, capital of China. The Tianzhou-1 cargo spacecraft, China's first cargo spacecraft, which was launched Thursday evening from Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China's Hainan Province, successfully completed automated docking with the orbiting Tiangong-2 space lab at 12:23 p.m. Saturday, according to Beijing Aerospace Control Center. It is the first docking between the spacecraft and space lab. (Xinhua/Wang Sijiang)(wjq)

Latest Long March rocket fails after launch from southern China

The Long March-5 Y2 rocket takes off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Wenchang, Hainan province just after 7.20pm on Sunday. Forty minutes later, state media announced the mission had failed. Photo: Reuters

The Long March-5 Y2 rocket is seen in it's launch pad before take-off off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Center in Wenchang, Hainan Province, China July 2, 2017. REUTERS/Stringer ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. CHINA OUT.

China plans to grow potatoes in space ... like Matt Damon did in The Martian

A container with seeds and silkworm eggs will be sent to the moon’s surface next year

China’s latest project is to try to grow crops and raise insects on the moon. Photo: Handout

Can China’s spaceplane give it the edge against US in space race?

An artist impression of what China’s new spacecraft, which will be able to take off and land on an airstrip in the same way as aeroplanes, may look like. Photo: Handout

PLA space plane on Chinese internet. Photo: Handout

News

China

Politics

Tech

Big Tech

Science & Research

Causes are still being investigated, but the second Long March mishap in two weeks was probably due more to bad luck than incompetence


China’s moon programme takes a hit due to Long March rocket failure

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Causes are still being investigated, but the second Long March mishap in two weeks was probably due more to bad luck than incompetence

Causes are still being investigated, but the second Long March mishap in two weeks was probably due more to bad luck than incompetence