The first test of the Chinese Tianlong-3 launch vehicle failed. As reported by Space Pioneer, which developed it, an analogue of the Falcon 9 crashed shortly after launch.
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This was reported by Reuters with reference to a statement by Space Pioneer on the official WeChat account. The company said the first stage of the launch vehicle detached from the launch pad and soon crashed in the mountainous area of Gongyi City, 1.5 kilometers from the launch site. No one was injured as a result of the accident.
The cause of the accident was a malfunction in the connection between the rocket body and the test stand. As China News clarifies, the spacecraft’s computer automatically shut down, after which the rocket fell to the ground.
Photo: Youtube
Tianlong-3 is a two-stage rocket powered by kerosene and liquid oxygen. It is the largest commercial launch vehicle developed in China today. It is expected to be reusable in the future and released up to 20 times a year.
As Reuters highlights, in many ways the Tianlong-3 is similar to Elon Musk’s SpaceX Falcon 9 two-stage launch vehicle. Even in terms of payload capacity: the Chinese device is supposed to be capable of launching 17 tons of payload into low-Earth orbit, while the American design will launch 22.8 tons.
“We will correct the defects as soon as possible and begin creating and testing new products,” Space Pioneer said in a statement.
Cover photo: Unsplash
Author:
Akhmed Sadulayev
Source: RB
I am a professional journalist and content creator with extensive experience writing for news websites. I currently work as an author at Gadget Onus, where I specialize in covering hot news topics. My written pieces have been published on some of the biggest media outlets around the world, including The Guardian and BBC News.
