Disastrous Chinese rocket launch near Gongyi. No casualties reported
6:41 PM EDT, June 30, 2024
The unplanned launch of the Chinese Tianlong-3 heavy-lift rocket ended in disaster. Developed by the private company Space Pioneer, the missile was intended to reduce the cost of Chinese space missions significantly. However, one of its stages launched uncontrollably and ended in an explosion.
The uncontrolled launch of the Tianlong-3 (Heavenly Dragon 3) rocket was most likely the result of an error or a chance occurrence—it happened during what was supposed to be a static test of the rocket's first-stage engine. Moments after lifting off, the rocket began to descend, crashing within seconds on the hills approximately one mile from Gongyi city in central China.
The entire disaster was recorded on video. According to Chinese sources, the rocket debris fell in an area that caused no significant damage, and the fire from the accident was quickly extinguished. The Chinese also claim that no one was injured due to the explosion. This is another recent accident involving a Chinese space rocket—recently, a Long March 2C rocket crashed into a village.
Tianlong-3 - chinese reusable rocket
Tianlong-3 is a heavy-lift rocket designed and built by Space Pioneer, a private space sector company. Compared to previously used solutions, Tianlong-3 is expected to offer significantly lower costs for space missions, including low-Earth orbit flights and placing objects into sun-synchronous orbits (a solution popular in the meteorological industry, among others).
In the first case, Tianlong-3 is expected to be capable of carrying up to 38,000 pounds of payload. For a sun-synchronous orbit of about 310 miles, the payload capacity drops to approximately 31,000 pounds.
Reusing rocket elements is a key factor in cost reduction. Like SpaceX solutions, the Tianlong is also expected to be able to reuse its second stage.
After launch, this rocket part is expected to return to Earth, landing vertically. Its design aims to allow up to 10 module reuses, which contain the most valuable components in the form of nine Tianhuo-12 engines (TH-12) powered by RP-1 (kerosene) and liquid oxygen.
The engines and the individual rocket modules have been successfully tested multiple times. Before the accident, Space Pioneer planned 30 rocket launches per year.
