Chinese missile accidentally launches during test, then crashes

A commercial Chinese rocket was accidentally launched during a ground test on Sunday, soaring into the air before crashing into a nearby mountain and bursting into flames, the private company that owns the rocket said.

Due to a “structural failure”, the Tianlong-3 rocket separated from its test platform while its propulsion system was being tested and lifted off from its launch pad, the rocket’s owner Space Pioneer said in a statement. The accident happened at 15:43 local time on Sunday at a test facility in Gongyi city in central China’s Henan province, the statement said.

After launch, the on-board computer automatically shut down and the missile fell in a hilly area about a mile from the test site, the statement said. No one was injured, the statement said, adding that the crash site was far from residential areas and the company had worked with local authorities before the test to evacuate nearby areas.

Videos posted by Chinese news media and on social media appeared to show the rocket ascending before losing power and plunging, exploding on a nearby hill.

The Gongyi municipal government said in a statement on social media that the missile crash caused a fire, which had been extinguished by Sunday evening.

The accident appears to have occurred during a static fire test, when the engines are fired for takeoff but the rocket remains secured to the ground, said Brad Tucker, an astrophysicist at the Australian National University who reviewed videos of the accident. It was a very routine test, he said, adding that although the rocket is often done horizontally, some companies, including SpaceX, have done the test vertically.

“It is so common that it is surprising that this kind of failure occurred,” said Dr. Tucker, adding that the only other comparable accident he was aware of occurred in 1952 when an American Viking 8 rocket broke free during a static fire test and landed. in the desert five miles away.

“A lot of things probably had to go wrong for this failure to happen the way it did,” said Dr. Tucker, adding that although China’s national space program was advanced, its commercial space industry is quite young.

This commercial industry has expanded rapidly in recent years alongside growing government space ambitions. This year, for the first time, commercial spaceflight was listed as an emerging industry to be actively promoted in the Chinese government’s annual work report, the main policy document outlining the government’s priorities for the year.

Space Pioneer, also known as Beijing Tianbing Technology, is a major player in that industry. The Tianlong-3 rocket, China’s most powerful launch vehicle currently under development, was custom-built to help build the country’s satellite internet system, according to Space Pioneer.

Last month, China became the first country to take rock samples from the far side of the Moon. It aims to put a man on the moon before 2030, which would make it the second nation to do so after the United States. And it has successfully launched a mission to Mars and has plans for a future visit to an asteroid.

Last year, Space Pioneer’s Tianlong-2 – the predecessor of the Tianlong-3 – became the country’s first commercial liquid-fueled rocket to successfully enter orbit, according to state media.

According to Space Pioneer, Tianlong-3 is comparable to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, the first reusable orbital-class rocket. Designed to carry crew and cargo into Earth orbit, the Falcon 9 became the first commercial rocket to launch astronauts into orbit in 2020.