Advertisement
Science
ChinaScience

Moon miss: 2 Chinese test satellites fail to reach orbit after rocket’s upper stage falters

  • Duo was planned to enter distant retrograde orbit and work with third satellite to test laser-based navigation technologies between the Earth and moon
  • ‘The satellites have not been inserted into their designated orbit, and work is under way to address this problem,’ Chinese state media says

Reading Time:2 minutes
Why you can trust SCMP
28
A Long March 2C rocket lifted off with satellites DRO-A and B from Xichang Satellite Centre on Wednesday night. Photo: Xinhua
Ling Xinin Ohio
China said a pair of its technology test satellites failed to reach a planned orbit on their way to the moon – a rare miss in the country’s space mission launch record in recent years.
Advertisement

DRO-A and B lifted off atop a Long March 2C from the Xichang Satellite Launch Centre at 8.51pm on Wednesday. The rocket’s first and second stages worked normally, but its Yuanzheng-1S upper stage did not, state news agency Xinhua reported on Thursday.

“The satellites have not been inserted into their designated orbit, and work is under way to address this problem,” Xinhua said in a brief statement.

A schematic diagram of laser-based navigation between Earth and the moon. Photo: Journal of Deep Space Exploration
A schematic diagram of laser-based navigation between Earth and the moon. Photo: Journal of Deep Space Exploration

The plan was for the duo to head towards the moon and enter a so-called distant retrograde orbit, or DRO. From there they would fly in formation and work with DRO-L – a third satellite that was successfully placed into low-Earth orbit by a Jielong 3 rocket last month – to test laser-based navigation technologies between the Earth and the moon, known as cislunar space.

Advertisement
Advertisement