Posted on 05/13/2022 10:49:10 AM PDT by martin_fierro
HELSINKI — An orbital launch attempt by Chinese startup iSpace suffered failure early Friday, following on from two failures last year.
The fourth Hyperbola-1, a four-stage solid rocket, lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at 3:09 a.m. Eastern May 13.
Apparent launch footage appeared on a Chinese social media site shortly after launch but a period of silence followed, extending well past the time at which a similar launch could have been declared successful.
The failure was confirmed by Chinese state media Xinhua four hours after launch. Teams are investigating the specific reasons for the failure.
The mission was the 16th orbital launch attempt from China in 2022. It was the first launch not relying on a Long March rocket and the first failure.
The loss of what was expected to be a new remote sensing satellite for a commercial satellite developer and operator will be a blow to iSpace’s plans.
Beijing-based iSpace became the first Chinese company from outside of the state-owned, traditional space sector to successfully launch a satellite into orbit in July 2019. The firm suffered two subsequent failures in February and August of last year however.
The company is also developing the much more complex Hyperbola-2, a larger, methane-liquid oxygen launcher with a reusable first stage. It secured $173 million in funding in August 2020 to boost its development.
Vertical takeoff, vertical landing (VTVL) tests had been planned for 2021 following progress with testing of the methalox engines and software, grid fins and landing leg deployment, but updates have been sparse in recent months.
The Hyperbola-2 will likely use the same new launch infrastructure recently constructed at Jiuquan to facilitate the Zhuque-2, another methalox launcher developed by rival Landspace.
8X ===== SNIP! ===== X8
(Excerpt) Read more at spacenews.com ...
Heads will rorr.
CEO Sum Ting Wong was unavairable for comment
If you want to fly on a Chinese rocket, be my guest.
Sometimes the fuses get wet and they don’t work.
The Clintoons have stopped delivering successful Tech?
Lead engineer Sum Ting Wong stated that he did not yet know the cause of the failure.
Rockets are tricky things especially when they’re a new design. Hate to say but this failure is not a big deal because the Chinese ability to put things into orbit and into deep space is already established.
“The fourth Hyperbola-1, a four-stage solid rocket..”
Next time make it from gas. It won’t weigh as much.
L
I guess we’ll have to send the Rand Corp back to China to fix their problem.
Tly and tly again.
What original ideas! Grid fins, methalox engines, landing
legs. I guess imitation is the most sincere form of flattery.
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