BEIJING, June 30 : A stage of the Tianlong-3 liquid propellant rocket developed by China’s private aerospace company Space Pioneer crashed in the mountains during testing on Sunday, with no casualties reported, the company said.
The rocket’s first stage unintendedly detached from its launch pad due to design flaws, the statement said.
“After takeoff, the computing system on the rocket automatically shut down and the rocket fell in the mountains 1.5 kilometers [0.9 miles] southwest of the test site,” the company added.
Security measures were strengthened with the help of local authorities before the test, and citizens were evacuated in time, the statement read.
Tianlong-3 is a liquid propellant heavy-lift launch vehicle with characteristics comparable to the Falcon 9 rocket of the US company SpaceX. Its diameter is 3.8 meters (12.4 feet), its launch mass is 590 tonnes, its payload capacity in low-Earth orbit is 17 tonnes, and its payload capacity in sun-synchronous orbit is 14 tonnes.
In April 2023, Space Pioneer launched the Tianlong-2 rocket, China’s first commercially produced liquid propellant rocket, into space. (UNI)
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