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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.""
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.
Then they've got another 372183628 of them on the production line, ready for cheap shipping to every major US and EU reseller...
Actually, the quality of the stuff made in China have improved tremedously over the years. In the 80ies (and maybe beginning/mid 90ies), "Made in China" or "Made in Taiwan" meant inferiour quality. Nowadays I would almost say it's the opposite. Just one example: I know that many audiophiles who import amplifiers/speakers/whatnot made in China, due to the high quality and (relatively) low price.
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.
I had a talk about that back when I was in school. The chap giving it was of the opinion that the reason why things are so much better today is that a lot of Taiwanese companies got a bit fed up of being the butt of everyone else's "low quality" jokes (and probably figured it would be a lot easier to sell things worldwide if they did something about quality) and promptly instigated some reforms to do something about it.
Legend has it, a few years later a UK company placed an order for a million items (history doesn't relate what they were), with a note attached saying "We would expect your quality control to be so good that there would be no more than three faulty parts per million".
Fast forward a couple of months, the order came off the boat and arrived in their warehouse with a note saying "Please find enclosed the three faulty items under separate wrapper, though we can't imagine why you want them."
May the Maths Be with you!
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.
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You still use him? He and his brother were our best suppliers, but we had problems with one item. They kept sending us blackboards, but we explained we need the kind you can write on with markers. After several rounds of this they finally explained that two Wongs don't make a white. So we had to change.
How do you pronounce that? eighty-ies? Maybe you could write 8ies, which I kinda like. Or plain old '80s.
"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).
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
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You win the thread.
Damnit, where are my mod points when I need them?!
FATMOUSE + YOU = FATMOUSE
Haha, good one!
:)
My dad (who worked for Rolls Royce Aerospace in Bristol) has a similar story about aerospace engines which kept blowing up after being shipped and fitted at a particular location in the far east. Eventually they sent someone out there to find out why the engines kept failing. They determined it was because some critical bolts weren't torqued up after fitting. In the end they traced it to a translation anomoly, which indicated that the installer should "check bolts for looseness" - so the installer carefully loosened the appropriate bolts.
Urban legend, I'm sure, but a great story nonetheless.
biopowered.co.uk - catalytically cracking triglycerides for home automotive use since 2008. Just say no to big oil!
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.
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.
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
I don't think its a joke - I reckoned they did
At least they actually make things in China. The only things we make here anymore are cars, and they suck compared to their imported counterparts. (Well, we also make cars from imported designs for foreign companies here, to avoid import tariffs... but those factories are managed by Asians.)
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
He who moderates first, doesn't get the joke. :-)
"Not an actor, but he plays one on TV."
At least they actually make things in China. The only things we make here anymore are cars...
And aircraft, computer chips, and lots of other high-tech stuff. But so what? Boo hoo, we don't have much commodity product manufacturing around here. Because such manufacturing is basically a solved problem these days, so everybody knows how to do it and there's relatively little profit to be had from it. We've got way more profitable activities to engage in here, things which are more befitting a highly-educated workforce sitting on some of the best infrastructure in the world. Hence, outsourcing. Manufacturing was just the first thing we sent over.
Given a choice between free speech and free beer, most people will take the beer.
HahaHAhaHAahhaha.
Most of the people in the US are very poorly educated. They don't know their ass from... hey, what's that in the ground over there? They speak only one language.
Our entire school system K-12 is specifically designed to produce factory workers. It hasn't seen any significant overhaul since that original design. Meanwhile we have sent nearly all of our factory jobs overseas.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Most of the people in the US are very poorly educated.
Sorry, this is total bullshit. You can just make things up, or you can go down to http://www.uis.unesco.org/ or any of a thousand other places to see how our education stacks up. We produce one of the best-trained workforces in the world, and your wishful superiority complex (let me guess, you're the one guy who's so gifted that the horrible public education here didn't ruin you, right?) doesn't change that a bit.
Given a choice between free speech and free beer, most people will take the beer.
Actually, while it didn't ruin me, it harmed me. When I was young I went to a private school for a couple years, then we ran out of money, and I had to go to public school. I had been two years ahead, but they put me in kindergarten because I was five. I spent a year sticking president's head stickers on construction paper flags and shit like that. Then when I got to first grade it was discovered I had done it all before so they bumped me up to second (I had a nasty habit of correcting my teacher's mistakes. No joke.)
But by that time I had lost most of my enthusiasm for learning, and they had little enthusiasm for me. I was a distraction to other students because the teachers could or would not find enough for me to do. This is pretty sad either way; if they could not, then I was smarter than they were, which is okay I guess but still pretty weak. If they would not, then they didn't care about doing their jobs, which is far worse.
I was even in GATE and they told me I couldn't participate in their astronomy-related projects because I was too young.
Our schools produce people that, for the most part, are incapable of thinking for themselves.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Technically, I thought we design the chips. The manufacturing generally occurs out of country, mostly.