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.""

Comments

worst spacecraft failure involved loss of life

[Anonymous Coward]

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.

Re:worst spacecraft failure involved loss of life

[ScentCone]

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

I don't know, this is China we're talking about. Loss of life can be a result of just having your blog veer off course.

Re:Plastic junk

[jimicus]

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."

WTF !!

[minus_273]

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.

Re:Bad headlines, worse summaries

[Sponge Bath]

what the hell are fnarr fnarrs?

Native Chinese predators that feed exclusively on panda meat.
Don't you watch the Discovery Channel?

Re:Audiophile tastes aren't exactly a good metric.

[Ellis D. Tripp]

I wasn't saying ANYTHING about China or the quality of their products, you asshat.

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/mercha nt.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=NOB_C37_C

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_clai rvoyant.htm

The previously mentioned bottle of magic pebbles to increase listening pleasure:

http://www.machinadynamica.com/machina31.htm