China’s Kuaizhou-1A rocket fails at launch
China’s Kuaizhou-1A rocket yesterday failed during launch, though no details have been released.
Kuaizhou 1A and Kuauzhou 11 are rapid response rockets derived from intercontinental ballistic missiles that are capable of placing satellites into orbit on short notice. Launches are managed by ExPace, a commercial subsidiary of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation.
The Kuaizhou-1A is the smaller of the two rockets. This was its first failure after ten successful launches.
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China’s Kuaizhou-1A rocket yesterday failed during launch, though no details have been released.
Kuaizhou 1A and Kuauzhou 11 are rapid response rockets derived from intercontinental ballistic missiles that are capable of placing satellites into orbit on short notice. Launches are managed by ExPace, a commercial subsidiary of the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation.
The Kuaizhou-1A is the smaller of the two rockets. This was its first failure after ten successful launches.
Please consider donating to Behind the Black, by giving either a one-time contribution or a regular subscription, as outlined in the tip jar below. Your support will allow me to continue covering science and culture as I have for the past twenty years, independent and free from any outside influence.
Your support is even more essential to me because I keep this site free from advertisements and do not participate in corrupt social media companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook. I depend wholly on the direct support of my readers.
You can provide that support to Behind The Black with a contribution via Patreon or PayPal. To use Patreon, go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation. For PayPal click one of the following buttons:
If Patreon or Paypal don't work for you, you can support Behind The Black directly by sending your donation by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman, to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
That rocket can also probably place a killsat in orbit on short notice, too.
Friday was a bad day for orbital launches. The article points out that this was the eighth launch failure worldwide, this year. What a bad year the launch industry is having. So far this year there have been around sixty successful launches (I’m not really counting), so we are seeing a failure rate of about 12%. Some of these failures were in test phases, so it really isn’t as bad as I have suggested, but at ten-ish percent it is well below good.
Scott Manley has some comments on this launch after saying quite a bit on the Astra 3.1 flight, including some nice photographs taken before the shutdown. He also has a second source video of Astra 3.1 taken closer and showing more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q2izFjTEBKQ (10 minutes)
Yeah, 4 Chinese launch failures this year. And it is especially noteworthy that an ICBM derived solid fuel rocket fails! In war, such a thing can change history.
US Military tests LGM-30G Minuteman III w/ 3 un-armed re-entry vehicle’s
August 2020
https://youtu.be/gAg6pAmtLyI
10:52
“It is to be noted that the missile is tested 4-5 times a year and but the last time Minuteman III was tested with 3 reentry vehicle was on Apr. 25, 2018.”
“Air Force and Navy personnel onboard an E-6B Mercury airborne command post aircraft initiated the missile launch.E-6B is an important component of this deterrent capability since it provides a backup option for launching the missiles remotely if other command and control nodes get taken out by a preemptive strike.”