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Major Chinese Satellite Suffers Complete Failure
cyclone96 writes "China's most advanced satellite, the direct broadcast Sinosat 2, apparently suffered a major failure on orbit following launch on October 29. None of the solar arrays or antennas deployed on the spacecraft, and the Chinese are now mulling whether to destroy the spacecraft in the atmosphere. The article provides the following analysis:
"The catastrophic breakdown of China's new Sinosat 2 direct broadcast satellite is the worst spacecraft failure in the history of the Chinese space program and a major setback to China's development of a new generation of larger, more powerful civilian and military satellites.""
Probably made in China.
From TFA: "A failure of such magnitude could have been caused by a major electrical or computer fault, or even a collision of the booster nose faring with the satellite during launch on its Long March 3B booster. Command errors have also been the cause of major U.S. European satcom losses in the past." (Emphasis mine)
Upshot? Lots of people have lost lots of sats. This ain't the first, won't be the last. So let's quit with the "made in China" fnarr fnarrs before they begin, eh?
From TFA: "...the worst spacecraft failure in the history of the Chinese space program"
Upshot? Yeah, but you can say that about every new launch which incorporates tech that's never been flown before. And you can say that about every failure in every "all-up" development program. Cheaper, faster --- gotta be a problem here somewhere...
From TFA: "Although it is a painful way to initiate reform, such a major loss has prompted Chinese aerospace to rise to higher standards in the past. Chinese quality control measures were tightened across the Long March booster program after fatal launch accidents at Xichang in the early 1990s. [...] The loss of such a critical spacecraft could spark similar reforms in the satellite industry"
Upshot? A big loss, but probably a bigger opportunity.
And that's about all you need to know.
Slightly offtopic: I was searching for 'Sinosat' in Wikipedia, and came across this page. The outcome is already updated as 'Failure', with a reason given. /. is dated 3rd December, and the wiki change was in the 2nd. I'm seriously impressed.
As a comparison, the article linked here at
I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
You mean like Discovery? Or Challenger?
It's time to realise that Abble's products are the biggest abomination these days. Just say NO to the dumb iAbble way!!
Thousands of Iraqi women and children are still unavailable for comment. People in glasshouses...you know the rest.
Mr. Wong, you know you're our favorite supplier, but I think we may have to reconsider our agreement if you insist on breaking the satellites before they get to the stores.
I'd have thought that the worst spacecraft failure would be one that directly resulted in loss of life, like that rocket that veered off course and flew into a town a few years ago. I realize that the loss of a satellite might indirectly result in lost lives (or the lost opportunity to save lives), but I don't see how that can be compared with the direct death of many by a malfunctioning rocket.
...Satellites fail.
At least, they won't use this one to send us more and more spams.
-- Rastignac was here.
Typical /. leftist moral equivalence still an ineffective rhetorical tool. News at 11.
This is a genuine attempt by a people to better themselves. It appears to have failed. That's sad. I hope that the agencies in China will do their best to learn from this experience (as all other countries have done) and rebuild.
A little more competition in the race for space is a good thing in my opinion.
Nearly fifty percent of all graduates come from the bottom half of the class!
The author of the article is an idiot and one who has never heard of the long march. That is a video everyone should see. That is seriously worse that a satellite loss. The long march launches in the 90s were basically ballistic missiles launched at villages. The death toll from one is about 500.
The war with islam is a war on the beast
The war on terror is a war for peace
If none of the antannae deployed then how can they destroy it?
On the other hand, it could make great target...
Excuses Are Like Assholes - Everybody's Got One
That's the same group that will spend money for a bottle of "magic pebbles" to put on top of an amplifier to improve sound quality. Green CD markers, specially "treated" digital clocks, megabuck speaker cables, wooden volume control knobs, and other assorted audiophool insanity have pretty much destroyed any credibility that "audiophiles" ever had as far as judging the objective worth of a product.
If the audiophool market is purchasing Chinese products, it is out of last resort. The Chinese are among the last countries still manufacturing some types of vacuum tubes used in high-end sound gear.
Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
Recently I have had the worst failure in the history of my personal space program... I was startled by a black bear while hiking and I threw my cell phone at it (generally black bears are not all that brave) and the cell phone broke! I am currently reviewing all policies & procedures that led up to this moment as well as interviewing various people involved in the selection and purchase of the cell phone. I am also thinking that perhaps the bear itself quickly entered some sort of "self destruct" command in the moments that it was near the phone. Another possibility is that some sort of debris collision or a micrometeor collision, but that is highly unlikely. I am at a complete loss to understand why my cell phone broke when I threw it at the bear, it hit some rocks and stopped working.
End of sarcasm here: Launching things into space is risky... expect things to break sometime!
TDz.
You know, ad hominem attacks are not a good way to disprove an argument.
Let's face it, most Slashdotters are Japanophilic technogeeks who will spend thousands of dollars on the latest PDA because it has a couple of extra buttons that the previous model didn't. They'll also spend $3000 on the latest PowerMac so that they can install Linux on it and spend their weekends hacking the kernel source. Why should I think you know anything about China?
... when you steal technology. That being said, our own record on satellite launch is surprisingly poor, considering the relative maturity of our technology
"the worst spacecraft failure in the history of the Chinese space program"
In my humble opinion, this description is a load of garbage. The loss of control of a satellite in orbit is minor compared to the of a Long March launch vehicle to the point that it exploded moments after launch and flaming debris crashed into the ground killing (officially) 6 people in 1998. The real number of deaths was probably much higher (some estimates place it at about 200). Given the cover-up of that event, I suppose the present example might still be the most serious recent failure the Chinese government has allowed their news media to talk about in any detail. Given the actual record to date, this event seems more like business as usual, but this time effecting a Chinese satellite, rather than a customer from somewhere else that the Chinese space agency could try to blame as the source of the problem (see the linked article for previous examples).
"Made in China" has always been analogous to crappy quality and cheap parts. Looks like this satellite is no different!
But many people like to do their own thinking
I wasn't saying ANYTHING about China or the quality of their products, you asshat.
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I was critiquing the ability of the audiophool crowd to distinguish worthwhile products from technobabble, marketing scams, and flat-out bullshit. And how an endorsement by said group says absolutely NOTHING about the technical merits of a product. Here are only a few examples of the utter BULLSHIT that the audiophools buy into:
A wooden volume control KNOB for $500 (need 2 for stereo, BTW) that promises buyers that "The sound becomes much more open and free flowing with a nice improvement in resolution. Dynamics are better and overall naturalness is improved.":
http://www.referenceaudiomods.com/Merchant2/merch
Special "secret mojo" paint to apply to the D/A chip inside your CD player to create the mystical "tube sound":
http://www.altmann.haan.de/tubeolator/
A $1500 POWER CABLE that is described like a glass of fine wine. "The Clairvoyant's signature is engaging, energetic, and bristling with light and microdynamic life"; "lifelike timing and pace" coupled with "clarity, definition, lithe touch, and articulation throughout the lower registers."
http://www.soundstage.com/revequip/audiomagic_cla
The previously mentioned bottle of magic pebbles to increase listening pleasure:
http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm
Remember "News for Nerds, Stuff that Matters"? Help make it a reality again! http://soylentnews.org
nyuk nyuk nyuk
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
There were 2 Long March disasters, the first killing 6 (officially), and a year later the second killing an estimated 4 to 5 hundred.
Of course, these estimates mean nothing considering the Chinese Govt had 6 hours to do damage control and are consistent liars in such matters.
The difference between their lies and our lies is that when we challenge our lies, we don't often get imprisoned and have our organs harvested.
But the point is absolutely correct - this article is full of sensationalist bullshit and shoddy research. Bravo shamedot.
You win the thread.
Damnit, where are my mod points when I need them?!
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
wouldn't that mean a forced early end of life?
Let's see someone try to argue that moderation works now. My timestamp is earlier than the one saying challenger and discovery.
I bet the US shined a big laser at it and broke it (if you don't get that joke, you don't read slashdot enough.) But really, I think we all know that most stuff with "made in china" stamped on it is low quality junk that breaks often so that's probably why it failed.
Google's Super Secret Search Algorithm: SELECT @search_results FROM internet WHERE @search_results = 'good'
I normally go to bed at 10, but I stayed up just to see that. Turned out there was nothing at all about it, and now I've been sleepy all day.
You win teh intarwebs. Great retort and solid comment with backup. Also, further proof that some (most?) audiophiles are just nutcases who think they hear a difference when it's not actually audible.
Please provide an address where we can send you your new "teh intarwebs". Shipping and Handling extra.
If I knew the wedgies I gave you back in 6th grade would have resulted in this . . . I might have taken a moments pause.
The battery compartment was labeled: Made by Sony
In soviet China .*
Property is theft.
Secondly, you ignore the multiple layers of C37 lacquer, which would otherwise result in over-dampening of the highest frequencies.
Finally, the knobs are only $485, a steal considering the labor that have gone into their design and testing.
The existence of idiotic products targeting a group does not automatically make all of the people in that group idiots. For example my wooden slashdot reading knob, which, for just $500 will dramatically increase the clarity of your slashdot reading, does not automatically make all slashdot readers idiots.
Sales of such a product would prove that those few individuals are idiots. But nothing more.
Gods don't kill people, people with gods kill people.
Err... no. It was actually an Atheist leader who reckoned that Euthanasia “might not be bad”.
Maybe next month? You might get one of the people from a Persian or Babylonian religion, who advocate human sacrifices for Christmas.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
But then, so much of the global economy is driven by the feeding of mindless aesthetes, like those needing to buy a new cellphone every time a cuter one pops up, maybe with Kitty whiskers.
It's all recycling of lucre from the stupid back to the less stupid and back, and the latter will then buy yachts, jetskis, and giant scrape houses, not quite as stupid but still, creating more or less stupid jobs in other stupid sectors. This is the only meaning of existence.