China Suffers Second Launch Failure of 2020
A Chinese Long March 3B booster failed after launch on Thursday, destroying an Indonesian communications satellite and providing a spectacular nighttime light show for residents of Guam as debris burned up in the atmosphere.
China’s Xinhua news agency said the Long March 3B’s third stage malfunctioned after launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.
The booster was carrying the Palapa-N1 geosynchronous communications satellite. The spacecraft was owned by Palapa Satelit Nusantara Sejahtera, which is a joint venture of Pasifik Satelit Nusantara and Indosat Ooredoo.
Palapa-N1, also known as Nusantara Dua, would have provided C-band and Ku-band broadcast and broadband services for Indonesia and neighboring regions. The China Academy of Space Technology built the spacecraft based on its DFH-4 platform.
Debris from the launch reentered the atmosphere near Guam. Officials said the debris posed no threat to the U.S. territory.
It was China’s second launch failure in less than a month. On March 16, the maiden launch of the Long March 7A rocket went awry, destroying a classified government satellite. Chinese officials have not announced the cause of the failure.
4 responses to “China Suffers Second Launch Failure of 2020”
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You have to wonder what, if any, the shutdown over the COVID-19 had on both launches.
Obviously the pilot on this flight suffered a heavy bout of coughing a couple hours ahead of schedule, even though pumped full of suppressants
Heh.
The poor Indonesians sure have had a run of bad luck anent things falling out of the sky lately.
If nothing else, it lends credence to the observation that if UFOs are real and all that common, why don’t we have more recorded sightings, now that virtually everybody has a phone with video recording ability?