Launch News (FAILURE) Shijian-11-04, Long March 2C, August 18, 2011

[Cosmic Penguin]

China has launched the fourth satellite for their Shijian-11 constellation (rumored to be an experimental missile warning constellation, similar to America's [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Tracking_and_Surveillance_System"]Space Tracking and Surveillance System[/ame]), on 09:28 UTC today, from LC-4L at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, using the [ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Long_March_2C"]Long March 2C rocket.[/ame] However, the satellite failed to reach orbit, as reported by Chinese news sources. This is the first Chinese launch failure that leads to the loss of the payload since (drumrolls) August 18, 1996, and the first failure of any kind for the Long March series since August 2009.

Additional information will be posted here later.

Links:
Gunter's Space Page: Shijian 11
Rui Barbosa, NASASpaceflight.com: China’s third launch in a week proves too much as Long March 2C fails
(in Chinese) 9ifly.cn aerospace forum discussion thread
Official news report for the launch

 

[N_Molson]

Bad day for rocketry.

Maybe someone is just testing new anti-satellite weapons.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Bad day for rocketry.

Maybe someone is just testing new anti-satellite weapons.

For the sake of the other Orbitnauts, here is my alternative theory:

I don't know what I have done on my birthday today, but both orbital launches today (see note below) (using Hong Kong standard time, of course) has failed. Must be my brain radiating out EM wave beams that could zap rocket control systems... :facepalm:

Note: Apart from the Proton failure earlier, the Chinese appears to have launched a military satellite roughly 5 hours ago (Shijian-11-04, the fourth satellite of a probable Chinese missile detection system), and no news about the launch has been reported, while several Chinese bloggers reported that the satellite had failed to reach orbit. This was not officially confirmed though.)

---------- Post added at 22:28 ---------- Previous post was at 22:21 ----------



And they says that epic fails comes in three.... this video might be the third one... :rofl:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4EVCDiQTfYA

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Some quick news since a week ago:
No official news has been reported since the initial one, but several Chinese bloggers and forum members reported that the launch failed during the second stage flying phase (one cited the failure happened at T+171 s, about 50 s after second stage ignition). Apparently bursts of flames can be seen on the on-board camera in the mission control center, and the air force launch director ordered to destroy the rocket. The hypergolic-fueled stage and the military satellite was thought to have hit mountainous terrain in Qianhai province. Officials are trying to search for debris from the launch (including the first stage, which separated normally), but nothing have been found yet (at least known to the public).
Meanwhile, this failure has delayed the whole Chinese launch schedule, as the LM-2C is the "baseline" model of all the Long March 2/3/4 series of orbital launchers in use. Tiangong-1 has already been delayed to NET early September (some even say October), for example.

 

[Cosmic Penguin]

Initial results of the investigation

Initial investigation results are up: a flaw in the connection between vernier engine no.3 and the servo mechanism of the second stage led to the failure of the connection and subsequent loss of attitude control during second stage flight.

For reference, the user guide of the LM-3 series shows the structure of the second stage engine, which is the same one used in the LM-2C.

Link (in Chinese)

---------- Post added 09-06-11 at 14:12 ---------- Previous post was 09-05-11 at 18:01 ----------

The English press release by Xinhua News

Launch Photos: