1-7-2024 (BEIJING) AÂ private Chinese space company’s rocket test ended in a fiery spectacle on Sunday, as the spacecraft veered off course and crashed into a hillside near the city of Gongyi, in China’s Henan province. The incident, captured on viral social media footage, has raised concerns about the safety protocols employed by the budding space enterprise.
The ill-fated rocket, known as the Tianlong-3, belonged to Tianbig Technology, a rising star in China’s burgeoning private space industry and a potential competitor to the likes of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. What was supposed to be a routine test on the launch pad quickly descended into chaos as the rocket unexpectedly took to the skies, only to arc back towards the Earth in an uncontrolled plummet.
Eyewitnesses reported a massive explosion as the Tianlong-3 slammed into a forested hillside approximately 1.5 kilometers southwest of the test site. In a statement released by Tianbig Technology, the company acknowledged the rocket’s catastrophic failure, attributing the shocking mishap to a “structural failure at the connection between the rocket body and the test bench.”
The company further explained that this critical failure triggered the onboard computer’s automatic shutdown sequence, leading to the rocket’s erratic trajectory and subsequent crash landing. Thankfully, Tianbig Technology reported no casualties resulting from the incident, as local authorities had evacuated the surrounding area as a precautionary measure.
While parts of the rocket rained down within a designated “safe area,” according to the Gongyi emergency management bureau, the incident has raised serious questions about the safety measures and contingency plans in place for such high-risk endeavors.
