Beijing. China's space sector program has suffered a major setback. The Long March-7A rocket, which took off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province of southern China, failed to complete the mission. About 85 to 90 seconds after launch, the rocket suddenly malfunctioned and broke apart in the air and turned into a ball of fire. The Zhongxing-4B communication satellite being sent with this mission was also destroyed.
There were no people on board the mission, so no injuries were reported in the incident. China's official news agency Xinhua has also confirmed the failure of the mission. According to officials, investigation has been started to find out the technical cause of the accident.
Accident within one and a half minutes of takeoff
The Long March-7A took off normally from the Wenchang Space Launch Site. In the initial moments, the rocket appeared to be moving in its intended direction, but after about 85 to 90 seconds, a serious technical glitch was noticed.
After this the rocket broke in the air and burst into flames with a massive explosion. The Zhongxing-4B satellite present with the rocket also could not reach the scheduled orbit.
At present it is not clear which part of the rocket had malfunctioned. The real cause of the accident is expected to be revealed only after China's technical investigation is completed.
Second major failure of Long March-7A
This accident is also important for China because Long March-7A is not a new rocket. It made its first flight in 2020. After the initial failure the rocket had successfully completed more than 12 missions.
This incident on Monday evening is considered to be the second major failure of the Long March-7A. Earlier in January this year, the launch of the second rocket of the Long March family, Long March-3B, had also failed.
Will Chang'e E-7 mission be affected?
This failure has raised concerns given China's upcoming lunar missions. China is preparing to launch the Chang'e-7 mission using the Long March-5 rocket in the coming weeks. The objective of this mission is to land a robotic vehicle near the south pole of the Moon.
Due to some technical similarities between Long March-5 and Long March-7A, after the latest failure, questions are being raised whether the timeline of Chang'e-7 mission could be affected. However, there has been no official confirmation from China yet that this rocket accident will have any impact on the Chang'e E-7 mission.
At present, the biggest challenge facing China is to find out the reason for the failure of the Long March-7A and ensure the reliability of future missions.