“China’s SpaceX” Fails 1st Satellite Launch, Another Launch Sees Success

Zhuque-1 blasts-off from Jiuquan and, its payload nano-satellite named Future. Photo: CCTV

The first attempt to launch a rocket into space by the Chinese company dubbed “China’s SpaceX” by state-owned media has failed, while China successfully sent an ocean-observing satellite into space.

“China’s SpaceX” saw a complete loss of its small satellite payload, but Landspace Technology Corporation enters China’s history books as the first privately-licensed company to launch a commercial rocket into space. Landspace was founded only in 2015 and also planned to be the first Chinese private company to deliver a satellite into orbit. Landspace said its launch vehicle, Zhuque-1 (ZQ-1), was carrying a small satellite named “Future” built for the state-run broadcaster, China Central Television (CCTV). It reported the three-stage launch vehicle attained successful burns and ejections of its first and second stages.

China’s ocean-observing satellite was launched into space today, which will enable scientists to simultaneously study, for the first time, ocean surface winds and waves. The China-France Oceanography Satellite (CFOSat), atop a Long March-2C carrier rocket, took off at 8:43 a.m. from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China’s Gobi Desert and entered a sun-synchronous orbit 520 kilometers above Earth. Jointly developed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the Center National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), France’s space agency, the satellite will conduct 24-hour observations of global wave spectrums, effective wave height and ocean surface wind fields, said Zhao Jian, a senior official with CNSA.