New Delhi: Chinese rocket Tianlong-3, which is comparable to SpaceX’s two-stage Falcon 9, was accidentally launched during formative tests in central China’s Henan Province and crashed into a hillock seconds after take-off.
The incident was caused by a “structural failure at the connection between the rocket body and the test bench”, causing the rocket to be “detached from its launch pad”, said Space Pioneer, the developer and a private aerospace company based in China. “After liftoff, the computer on the rocket automatically shut down, and the rocket fell to the ground,” it said.
Tianlong-3, also known as ‘Heavenly or Sky Dragon 3’, is a large liquid-launch vehicle with a diameter of 3.8 meters and a take-off mass of 590 tonnes. Its low-earth orbit (LEO) transport capacity is 17 tons, with a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) capacity of 14 tons. The two-stage rocket is partially reusable and customised for China’s satellite internet constellation. The test run at the Comprehensive Test Center in Gongyi City was part of the build-up to an orbital mission for the Tianlong-3.
Footage captured and uploaded by local residents on Chinese social media showed that the rocket was up in the air for over 30 seconds after which it flipped and fell downwards. Hitting the surface of a “safe area” in the mountainous region, it reportedly caused a small fire 1.5 kilometers southwest of the test platform. The Chinese media and Space Pioneer have maintained that no one was hurt due to the blast.
“The test site was far away from the urban area of Gongyi. Before the test, we worked with the local government to improve safety measures and organized the evacuation of surrounding people in advance. After investigation, there were no casualties,” Space Pioneer said in a statement.
The company assured it would complete a “fault reset” and thereafter organise the production and testing of new products.
The developer of this rocket, Beijing Tianbing Technology Ltd, is a private company founded in 2019, and known for its liquid propellant rockets. In April last year, the company launched the Tianlong-2 and became the “first commercial launch operator to send a liquid carrier rocket into space and successfully enter orbit”. The National Space Administration has called the rocket a record-setter in international and domestic aerospace, leapfrogging from solid to liquid launch vehicles.
Chinese aerospace was opened up to private players in 2014 after Xi Jinping took over as the new leader of China and treated civil space development as a key area of innovation, issuing a document 60 enabling private investment in the space industry. Following this, there has been a consistent rise in the number of space start-ups in the country.
(Edited by Tikli Basu)
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