London: On July the Second , 2017 China’s attempt to launch Long March 5 -Y2 carrier successfully for the second time failed . According to china’s official press agency an anomaly was detected during the flight.
Long March 5 -Y2 rocket was launched from Wenchang Space Launch Centre’s in Hainan around 11:23:23 GMT or 7:23:23 p.m. Beijing time. It was carrying an experimental communication satellite Shijian-18. Rocket went up in clear sky with the help of 2.4 m pounds of thrusts. It released boosters and payload in time. But soon after that something went wrong and live video coverage went dark.
Later China’s Xinhua News agency tweeted “Anomaly was detected during its flight and further investigation will be carried out”, without any elaboration.
Launch was unsuccessful and investigators were looking into the cause of the failure, an update was also posted in the website of CASTC or China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
China’s most powerful launcher Long March 5 -Y2 weighs 879 tonnes, 57 meters in height . It can carry satellite up to 25 tonnes in Low Earth orbit . It also carries environment friendly fuels rather than toxic propellants. Its performances can be comparable with United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4-Heavy rocket . This put the rocket in world’s most powerful rockets list as well.
It has been scheduled to deliver a core module to china’s space station in orbit next year. By mid 2020 it will deliver china’s first mars rover.
Setbacks for Chinese space agency as this has been the second rocket failure in two weeks. From a scientific point of view, this is also a set back for entire space community of the world. Even though scientists are optimistic but this incident some how clouding countries plans to send robots to moon end of this year . This will also be the first time since 1976 a spacecraft will bring back soil sample from moon. Maiden launch of this rocket in 2016 was successful. It safely placed Shijian 17 in to the orbit.
In 2003, China became the third country in the world to put a man in the space with its own rocket . The other two countries has achieved this feat were USA and USSR. It has also become third country to land a spacecraft (Jade Rabbit moon rover ) on the moon, In 2013.
India Successfully launched its heaviest rocket GSLV MK III on 5th June, 2017. It has dubbed as FATBOY due to its weight and height.
Image Credit @Reuters
