China launches another remote sensing satellite; crashes 1st stage near homes
The new colonial movement: China today used its Long March 4D rocket to launch another remote sensing satellite.
UPDATE: It appears the first stage booster crashed near a populated area. Footage of the crash can be seen here. Note that the red smoke indicates very toxic materials. Anyone who goes close risks serious health problems.
The leaders in the 2020 launch race:
22 China
15 SpaceX
9 Russia
4 ULA
4 Europe (Arianespace)
In the national rankings the U.S. still leads China 24 to 22.
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The new colonial movement: China today used its Long March 4D rocket to launch another remote sensing satellite.
UPDATE: It appears the first stage booster crashed near a populated area. Footage of the crash can be seen here. Note that the red smoke indicates very toxic materials. Anyone who goes close risks serious health problems.
The leaders in the 2020 launch race:
22 China
15 SpaceX
9 Russia
4 ULA
4 Europe (Arianespace)
In the national rankings the U.S. still leads China 24 to 22.
Readers!
My annual February birthday fund-raising drive for Behind the Black is now over. Thank you to everyone who donated or subscribed. While not a record-setter, the donations were more than sufficient and slightly above average.
As I have said many times before, I can’t express what it means to me to get such support, especially as no one is required to pay anything to read my work. Thank you all again!
For those readers who like my work here at Behind the Black and haven't contributed so far, please consider donating or subscribing. My analysis of space, politics, and culture, taken from the perspective of an historian, is almost always on the money and ahead of the game. For example, in 2020 I correctly predicted that the COVID panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Every one of those 2020 conclusions has turned out right.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
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3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
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Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Apparently, enough of it hit the ground near the launch area to cause some big issues:
https://www.space.com/china-launches-gaofen-11-satellite-rocket-crash.html
Aside from the problems for the neighbors, a military officer might see something like this and decide that a foreign nation just attacked mainland China. Coastal launches tend to avoid all this . . .
Frank Solomon: Thank you! Post now updated.
Not surprised, as those early Long March rockets were essentially monkey copies of the Titan II, which used hypergolic fuel. And toxic does not begin to cover it.
I had a friend (of blessed memory) who worked on Project Apollo through Apollo 12. He told me when they would be working around the Saturn V/Apollo CSM stack on the pad when the CSM was fueled prior to launch, they had to wear special protective suits in case of a leak with the hypergolics that were used in the Apollo CSM/LM. He said that you were literally hermetically sealed in with these suits, and God help you if you had a case of, um, gas while wearing it. But that is how nasty hydrazine fuels can be.
It is incredulous to me, a Chinese peasant can catch a falling rocket booster on video, meanwhile millions of phones and security cams around LAX, can’t see a guy, flying a jet pack, down final approach amongst the airliner traffic. ?
I have a grudging respect for China. Unlike Boeing, they show no fear—
No fear of hypergolics: debris crashing near school kids? We can make more.
Darkseid approves