A Chinese private company's rocket 'Tianlong 3' took off into the sky during a static ignition test that was not scheduled for launch, crashed, and exploded



On June 30, 2024,

Space Pioneer , a private Chinese space development company, conducted a static ignition test of the first stage engine of the 'Tianlong 3' rocket at a testing facility in Gongyi City, Henan Province. The purpose of the test was to check the operation of the Tianlong 3 engine, and there were no plans to launch the rocket into the sky, but the Tianlong 3 ended up flying into the air and then crashing, resulting in a tragic outcome.

Chinese rocket static-fire test results in unintended launch and huge explosion - SpaceNews
https://spacenews.com/chinese-rocket-static-fire-test-results-in-unintended-launch-and-huge-explosion/

Space Pioneer conducted a static ignition test as an operation experiment of the first stage engine of the Tenryu 3, which is currently under development. The first stage engine of the Tenryu 3 is equipped with nine boosters, and in the static ignition test, the Tenryu 3 was fixed to the test site and the engine combustion test was performed. However, an accident occurred in which the Tenryu 3, which was not scheduled to take off, took off from the test site and crashed. You can see the terrible accident by playing the movie attached to the following post.




The video starts with a huge amount of smoke emerging.



A rocket takes off from the smoke.



Tenryu 3 continues to gain altitude.



However, it emits black smoke along the way.



After that, Tenryu 3 began to tilt to one side and eventually its engines stopped.




It will fall as it is, causing a huge explosion. In addition, since the fuel of Tenryu 3 is a mixture of kerosene and liquid oxygen, 'at the time of the crash, a large amount of this fuel seems to have remained, causing the explosion,' the news media SpaceNews points out.



Another photo of the 'moment of the Tianlong 3 crash' taken from a different angle

was posted on the Chinese social networking site Weibo.



In addition, Shanghai-based news media The Paper reported that a Henan provincial official commented that 'there were no casualties in this rocket crash.'

After the crash of the Tianlong 3, Space Pioneer released a statement saying that there was a structural defect in the connection between the rocket body and the test platform. According to the statement, the computer on board the Tianlong 3 automatically shut down the engine, causing the rocket to crash 1.5 km southwest of the test site. Space Pioneer also reported that there were no casualties from the crash.

About the situation of the Tianlong No. 3 large liquid-powered rocket-class power system test vehicle
https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/6K2mdDWviOlk30oU-JH90Q



SpaceNews writes, 'It's not uncommon for problems to occur during rocket static ignition tests. In 2020, SpaceX's Starship prototype exploded during a static ignition test. However, it is rare for a rocket to escape its anchorage and launch into the sky.'

Space Pioneer has attracted attention as a Chinese private space development company that successfully launched the first commercial rocket with Tianlong 2, and the Tianlong 3, which is currently under development, is much larger than Tianlong 2, with a diameter of 3.8 meters and a takeoff weight of 590 tons. Tianlong 3 is a rocket that can launch 17 tons of payload into low earth orbit and 14 tons of payload into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 km.

Space Pioneer reports that the Tianlong 3 achieved a thrust of 820 tons during this test.

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