From the US territory Guam, sightings came in of a fireball falling from the sky. The strategic location of Guam and the U.S. military stationed there has drawn attention for years. Guam thrust into the limelight during heightened tensions with North Korea. In August 2017, North Korea launched missiles that flew over Japan and into the northern Pacific Ocean in an apparent attempt to threaten the US territory of Guam. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un did not follow up on his threats, but a fireball came crashing down from a different source.
Local officials quickly released an announcement indicating the Chinese Long March Launch as a likely source of the fireball. Indeed, an Indonesia satellite launched on a Chinese rocket came crashing back to Earth. The satellite failed to reach orbit. The failure of the new communications satellite for Indonesia to reach orbit marked the second failure forChina’s space agency in less than a month, state media reported April 9.
It is unlike the Chinese Long March 3, workhorse of the Chinese launch industry, series rocket to fall. According to the Xinhua News Agency, the rocket lifted off at 7:46 p.m local time from China’s Xichang Satellite Launch Center in the Sichuan province. The rocket traveled according to plan during the first and second stages. The Rocket third stage experienced abnormal conditions.
The rocket launch intended to place the Palapa-N1 next-generation communications satellite into orbit.
The Indonesian joint venture of Indosat Ooredoo and Pasifik Satelit Nusantara contracted with China Great Wall Industry Corporation for the high throughput satellite. The scope of work included building the Palapa N1 satellite and replacing the Palapa-D satellite at the 113° East geostationary orbit. The satellite CAST’s DFH-4 platform.
The satellite would have carried a high-throughput Ku-band payload with 10 Gbps of capacity. The lost satellite may result in reduced coverage for the region until a new satellite can replace the destroyed one.
The first and second stages of the three-stage Long March 3B rocket appeared to do well during the outset of Thursday’s launch. But something went wrong with the third stage, and debris came raining back to Earth and destroying the Palapa-N1 satellite, Xinhua reported.
Amature videos recorded the launch and posted on China’s social media site Weibo. The videos from Guam showed a fireball streaking across the sky.
This failed Long March 3B launch marks the second launch failure in less than a month for China. On March 16, a Long March 7A rocket malfunctioned during a debut test flight from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center. China is recovering from the coronavirus pandemic. Preparations for the launch took place during the COVID19 crisis and may have been a contributing factor for the malfunction.
China is not the only country that experiences launch issues.
A crewed Soyuz spaceflight to the ISS aborted shortly after launch on 11 October 2018 due to an anomaly of the Soyuz-FG launch vehicle boosters. In 2019, Boeing’s debut flight of the CST-100 Starliner experienced an anomaly placing it in the wrong orbit. the CST-100 Starliner returned to Earth failing to rendezvous with the ISS.
The other rocket launch on April 9th went smoothly. Russia launched a crew to the International Space Station on the same day. The Soyuz rocket did not experience any issues during the launch of a new U.S.-Russian crew to the International Space Station from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The Soyuz and crew successfully reached the space station about six hours later. NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and cosmonauts Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner joined the station’s Expedition 62 crew.
About The Author
Bill D’Zio
Co-Founder at WestEastSpace.com
Bill founded WestEastSpace.com after returning to China in 2019 to be supportive of his wife’s career. Moving to China meant leaving the US rocket/launch industry behind, as the USA and China don’t see eye to eye on cooperation in space. Bill has an engineering degree and is an experienced leader of international cross-functional teams with experience in evaluating, optimizing and awarding sub-contracts for complex systems. Bill has worked with ASME Components, Instrumentation and Controls (I&C) for use in launch vehicles, satellites, aerospace nuclear, and industrial applications.
Bill provides consulting services for engineering, supply chain, and project management.
