Context

• China’s 19th launch of 2020, the Kuaizhou-11 rocket, failed in its mission, state-owned Xinhua news agency reported. Both the satellites it was carrying were lost.
• The rocket was launched from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, but failed due to malfunction during the flight — the cause of which is under investigation.

The Kuaizhou-11

• Kuaizhou, meaning “fast ship” in Chinese, was operated by the commercial launch firm Expace, and was originally scheduled for 2018 after being developed three years earlier.
• Also known as KZ-11, it had a lift-off mass of 70.8 tonnes, and was designed to launch low-Earth and Sun-synchronous orbit satellites.
• It was carrying two satellites — the first being a remote sensing satellite that would provide data to clients on a commercial basis for forecasting and managing geological disasters.
• It would also provide information required for natural resource exploration.
• The second was part of a series of satellites for low-Earth orbit navigation.
• Since the start of 2020, there have been 19 launches from China, three of which have failed (including Kuaizhou-11).
• The 18th launch, which took place a day before, sent into space the APSTAR-6D telecommunications satellite — which would remain in orbit for 15 years as part of a broadband communications system for the Asia-Pacific region with speeds up to 50 gbps.

Back to Basics

Other Important Missions of China:

• China’s Mars Mission “Tianwen-1”. China’s previous ‘Yinghuo-1’ Mars mission,which was supported by Russia failed in 2012. Tianwen-1 will lift off on a Long March 5 rocket.
• Long March 5 Rocket which is considered as China’s successful step to operate a permanent space station and send astronauts to the Moon.
• Tiangong mission is meant for China’s own space station to be built by 2022. Tiangong means a ‘Heavenly Palace’.

Source: Indian Express