Chinese Rocket Fails To Put Two Satellites Into Correct Orbits (spaceflightnow.com)

schwit1 writes: Tracking data suggests that two Earth-observation satellites launched today by China's Long March 2D rocket were placed in the wrong orbits. Spaceflight Now reports: "The two SuperView 1, or Gaojing 1, satellites are flying in egg-shaped orbits ranging from 133 miles (214 kilometers) to 325 miles (524 kilometers) in altitude at an inclination of 97.6 degrees. The satellites would likely re-enter Earth's atmosphere within months in such a low orbit, and it was unclear late Wednesday whether the craft had enough propellant to raise their altitudes. The high-resolution Earth-observing platforms were supposed to go into a near-circular orbit around 300 miles (500 kilometers) above the planet to begin their eight-year missions collecting imagery for Siwei Star Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., a government-owned entity."

Comments

JOURNALISM

[rossdee]

"flying in egg-shaped orbits "

Maybe you mean elliptical orbits.
You can't get an egg shape (one end wider than the other) without coniuing to use thrust

Re:Hooray?

[Anonymous Coward]

Don't forget India and Japan also have launch capabilities. And before you joke about it, India has a better track record than China. (Perfect, in case you were wondering.)