Chinese Rocket Launch Fails, Losing Three Satellites
BEIJING – A ceres-1 rocket, operated by the private Chinese launch provider Galactic Energy, failed during a launch attempt on Sunday, resulting in the loss of three satellites. The payloads included two satellites belonging to china’s Jilin-1 Earth-observation constellation and a craft developed by Zhongbei University.
This marks the second failure in 22 missions for the Ceres-1, which had previously achieved 11 consecutive accomplished launches following a prior incident in September 2023. The 62-foot (19 meter) tall rocket is capable of delivering up to 880 pounds (400 kilograms) to low Earth orbit (LEO). Galactic energy debuted the Ceres-1 in November 2020.
“We offer our sincerest apologies to the mission’s customer and to everyone who supports Galactic Energy,” the beijing-based company stated, according to the Global Times, an affiliate of the People’s Daily, the leading paper of the chinese Communist Party.The company pledged to investigate the setback and improve its rocket design and quality-management systems.
Galactic Energy is currently developing more powerful rockets, including the Ceres-2 and the Pallas-1, which is designed to feature a reusable first stage similar to SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
