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

Posted by BeauHD on from the mission-not-accomplished dept.

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."

113 comments

  1. Can't wait for Trump's tweet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    If only I could short China.

    1. Re:Can't wait for Trump's tweet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

      Trump Tweet: "Vladimir Putin said today about Hillary and Dems: "In my opinion, it is humiliating. One must be able to lose with dignity." So true!"

      Trump's a traitor to his country. He cites Putin as his authority figure. So if you want to know what Trump will tweet, look at Putin's comments first and Trump's comment will be a "my boss is right" tweet.

      Oh, did Trump put his companies in a blind trust and sell off the foreign ones? No? So he continues to shakes hands of people paying money into Trump co. And he's fully aware of the money flows because there's nothing blind about Trump co. Where's his Tweets gone on that?

      And the missing interest payment that was paid out of a Panama trust fund (which could be Putin)? No tweet about that? Instead a diversion about the Iran deal?

    2. Re:Can't wait for Trump's tweet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      kill yourself, nlgger. Nobody cares since obama is the terrorist No 1 and needs to be locked up.

    3. Re: Can't wait for Trump's tweet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You are the terrorists john.

    4. Re: Can't wait for Trump's tweet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You seem obsessed with Trump. It's pretty obvious you want to fuck him.

    5. Re: Can't wait for Trump's tweet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Lolwut

    6. Re:Can't wait for Trump's tweet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You live in the cold war era. Next time it will not be a deorbitted satellite but China will place a nuke in some other country because they miscalculated... or worse, it was not supposed to be a nuke... only a commercial application of radioactivity, like batteries... Africans call Russians all people who are not People, Men (African) or Oriental or Cat or Dog or Yun or Jan or Lineage (Indians)... and sometimes refer to us USA as Chinese (because we buy gadgets and gadgets are Made in China, we all know that). You can play Country only so far, there is cooperation in spatial technology, for instance, and for the most part we are still Occidentals and fundamentally undistinguishable, save for language induced differences and peccata minuta like ideologies. The spatial race was a good thing after all, but people like you should instead try luck in videogames, now that they are available. Plenty of conflict to be had there. I doubt any move short of war by any USA politician can affect much administrative figures like budget, GNP, wages, etc.

  2. "...a government-owned entity." by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Everything in China is owned by the government. No company for yous!!!

  3. Worst space race ever by nadass · · Score: 0

    Remember how the United States imported German scientists to develop nuclear weapons and other such gizmos?

    Why do I get the feeling that China brought in North Korean scientists?

    1. Re:Worst space race ever by invictusvoyd · · Score: 2

      nope . That would be like US importing Mexican scientists.

    2. Re:Worst space race ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      for your information, US did import much worse than Mexicans - sand nlggers and india/paki chimps with phony village degrees in science. Now you know why america is fucked up.

    3. Re:Worst space race ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Are you perhaps referring to the big H-1B scam?

    4. Re:Worst space race ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      no; he's a racist piece of shit.

      don't feed trolls.

    5. Re:Worst space race ever by gnick · · Score: 1

      nope . That would be like US importing Mexican scientists.

      The U.S. does import Mexican scientists. I work with a very talented one.

      --
      He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
    6. Re:Worst space race ever by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

      I work with a very talented one.

      That was what I was trying to emphasize on ,


      BTW Minguel de Icaza is also mexican .

    7. Re:Worst space race ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      When I read "Mexico" one of the top things I think of is Alcubier (sp).

    8. Re:Worst space race ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Trumpies need their brains drained out.

    9. Re:Worst space race ever by arglebargle_xiv · · Score: 1

      Remember how the United States imported German scientists to develop nuclear weapons and other such gizmos?
      Why do I get the feeling that China brought in North Korean scientists?

      The failure wasn't because of that, it was because they used guaranteed 100% genuine components from Aliexpress.

    10. Re:Worst space race ever by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      BTW, Icaza seems to work only in failed projects, but for so long he got fame from it. And Alcubier seems to have had a copycat, plagiarized idea, just like the EmDrive is. Spanish is not a good language for Science, something in the structure of the language does seem to diminish scientific and engineering returns.

    11. Re:Worst space race ever by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

      Gnome is not a failed project. But i like fluxbox much better

  4. Bought from Alibaba listing by swb · · Score: 4, Funny

    Long March 2D Rocket, genuine manufacture, capable of placing satellites in orbit. Minimum order quantity 2, maximum order 25 requires 2 week lead time. International shipping from Guangzhou.

    1. Re: Bought from Alibaba listing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is this for a new unit or re-conditioned ?

    2. Re: Bought from Alibaba listing by bkmoore · · Score: 4, Funny

      Is this for a new unit or re-conditioned ?

      Someday the Chinese John Glenn will say, “I guess the question I'm asked the most often is: 'When you were sitting in that capsule listening to the count-down, how did you feel?' Well, the answer to that one is easy. I felt exactly how you would feel if you were getting ready to launch and knew you were sitting on top of two million new and re-conditioned parts -- all built by the lowest bidder on a Chinese government contract out-sourced via Alibaba.”

    3. Re:Bought from Alibaba listing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      hahahaha original he says. that would mean that tehy write, produce and film something that they do not know about. it hasn't been categorized and analyzed. like, scream 4, they knew almost how many tickets they would sell, and how many dvd's. to them, this is good entertainment. something they can depend on. sci fi movies, since movies have started, have never been big hits. the ticket sales were always dismal. Pandora was a box office flop. rightfully so, as the movie sucked goat balls. it was a copy, a rather sad remake of a french film that was barely a year old called Eden Log. its dubbed in english, its also subbed. i cant distinctly remember another film like it. oh, both subbed n dubbed are edited together different, the endings are different also. tehre was boondock saints. a diamond in the rough. the industry took a chance. the guy that wrote/directed it pissed em off, so they refused anything from him again. they tried to make a second, with catastrophic results. but then again, the industry makes good calls also. there was a second script for beetlejuice written, beetlejuice goes to hawaii, but it was never filmed :) you cant exactly fault them for sticking to what they know works. but you can for making gobs of money, and not trying to do what the companies are for, entertainment. thats what i have been looking for. there was a movie a while backed called the Killing Room. i think that was original, tho it was most likely a remake from a 60's movie that i did not see. to keep this on topic, yes, the price of EVERYTHING is just outrageous. the cost of the food alone should be enough to fund a few movies. but looking at the movie goers, not on a whole, but a very large percentage, are teen to earlie 20's. they are the ones that spend the money. as you get older, you tend to think of the 20 dollars vs renting a movie. so the movies will be aimed to them. if its a remake, its been a priven something that works. and they have not seen it before. i just saw The Mechanic, with jason stathem. it was 'ok'. his movies are always good popcorn movies. tho t he professional was the same thing, and 1000 before that. but the ones that went to see it haven't seen all those others. the people complaining about such things, like myself, don't account for much of the ticket sales. so teens/earlie 20 drive ticket sales noone ever wants a flop sci fi doesnt do too well. would you take your 11th grade date to see 'alien poofters invade earth' or something like, never been kissed, or something about mary? most movies are simply remakes of older ones. what i would like would to have the movies give credit to the one they are remaking. that clint eastwood movie, for a few dollars, and the counterpart, for a few dollars more. then comes along the industry and makes last man standing. not 1 lil mention of those 2, or the japanese play they all derived from. it was put out there as if it were original. just 1 example of what i mean. the Jews that own this industry say that their people invented comedy. i will not argue with that, i just want them to prove it :) show me something funny and new. or...something interesting, not the same story with diff faces. i have probably seen 15 movies this week. there was only 1 that i could not clearly see one before that.. that was the imax film about hubble. i wouldn't recommend that. not enough space picture stuff. too much about the guys floating around and talking about toilets and stuck bolts. the only way to get them to produce anything without a algorithm would be have everyone in the nation stop going to see the movies, renting movies, or even subscribing to hbo. for a long while. i think it would take 3 of the big 4 to collapse before any of them understand. origonality is not the right thing for them. same with the music industry. alot of books are just repeats of the same thing. and games? there was donkey kong, and now everythings a copy of it. street fighter, now everythings a copy of that. wolfenstein is copied like crazy, it seems to be all ther

    4. Re:Bought from Alibaba listing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      still better than Falcon 9.
      E. Musk: " why lunch the satellite when we can blow up your satellite and launch tower in one shot, I guaranteed that or you get your money back plus 10%!"

    5. Re: Bought from Alibaba listing by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      *cough* PARAGRAPHS! *cough*

  5. Hooray? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Go USA? Go EU? I guess?
    I mean what kind of self-serving function were these satellites intended for?

    Not that there aren't around 20 Hubble-like satellites pointed at earth controlled by the US, but uh, hmm...

    1. Re:Hooray? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      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.)

  6. JOURNALISM by rossdee · · Score: 5, Informative

    "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

    1. Re:JOURNALISM by invictusvoyd · · Score: 1

      Unless if , you are in the communist world .

    2. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The thin end is the end that faces the Moon. QED egg-shaped orbits are possible without continuing to use thrust.

    3. Re:JOURNALISM by Tablizer · · Score: 2

      Maybe [they] mean elliptical orbits.
      You can't get an egg shape (one end wider than the other) ...

      Chinese are obsessed with food and cooking. Food analogies are common there.

      Actually, not all eggs are wider on one end. Some are nearly elliptical. I'm actually fine with the egg comparison as an approximate description meant for a colloquial audience.

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    4. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      Not all eggs are wider on one end. Some turtle eggs are spherical.

    5. Re:JOURNALISM by Solandri · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Average reader: "What's 'elliptical' mean?"

      As much as I hate to say it, this bit of dumbing down is probably warranted.

    6. Re: JOURNALISM by backslashdot · · Score: 1

      I havent thought about it, but I feel like maybe such an orbit is possible at least temporarily if there are multiple influencing bodies synchronized exactly or the weight distribution of the thing being orbited was a certain way.

    7. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You're lying.

    8. Re: JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Get your facts straight before posting. It's an ellipsoidal orbit because the shape of the orbit is an ellipsoid. That's the problem with Slashdot: lots of people want to try to appear smart, so they spout off factually incorrect stuff without first checking. Wow.

    9. Re: JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There the ellipses thrust you.

    10. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

      Average American Reader.

      There, FTFY

    11. Re: JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Especially on Slashdot, where most readers are retarded.

    12. Re:JOURNALISM by John+Allsup · · Score: 1

      You can't get an egg shaped object with only two objects orbiting under gravity. With many bodies, however, things are far less clear. In addition, there is the effect of the atmosphere around the perigees. The orbits these things make won't be perfectly elliptical.

      --
      John_Chalisque
    13. Re:JOURNALISM by thegarbz · · Score: 2

      Journalism uses words people understand. People know what eggs look like but few know what elliptical means and even less know about coniuing thrust.

      Journalism is targeted at 15 year old reading level or lower. This is how journalists are taught to write for a general public.

    14. Re: JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I don't think that is far enough out to be significantly effected by mun.

    15. Re: JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I gots your ellip-tic-sis right here: ...

    16. Re: JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Whatever you think you know about "coniuing thrust" is almost certainly wrong. Maybe you should try being 15 again.

    17. Re:JOURNALISM by LordHighExecutioner · · Score: 1

      > You can't get an egg shape (one end wider than the other) without coniuing to use thrust

      You can: technically an egg-shape orbit is an orbit that, after a few revolutions, brings the orbiting object against the Earth surface, so that it shatters against the ground just like a egg.

    18. Re: JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      You can hardly call China communist these days...

      It's more capitalistic tyranny?

    19. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Elliptical eggs, to end the big-endian vs. little-endian war ?

    20. Re: JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Orbiting two massive objects, for example earth and moon, you can fly a satellite with an egg orbit or a "8" orbit.

    21. Re:JOURNALISM by Orgasmatron · · Score: 1

      That's just insulting. When I was a 15 year old American boy, I knew damn well what an ellipse was. By 15, I think we were solving elliptical equations and not merely visualizing the "two pins and string" model. I also knew (because of my career of aspiring to be an astronaut since age 6) what an elliptic orbit was and the burns needed to get into and out of them.

      --
      See that "Preview" button?
    22. Re: JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Since an ellipsoid is a surface, and an orbit is a line, I'm going to call you out as wrong in that deliciously embarrassing 'trying too hard to appear smart' way.

    23. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Average Reader: "Siri, what is an elliptical?"

      And this becomes a learning experience.

    24. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "Average reader" means different things on different sites, I would guess that elliptical would be well-suited to this audience

    25. Re:JOURNALISM by Lumpy · · Score: 1

      If few people know what elliptical means than that is solid proof that the education system is a complete and utter failure.

      --
      Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
    26. Re:JOURNALISM by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

      "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

      Please remember that this 'summary' was written for slashdot users, many of whom don't know the difference between "apogee" and "perigee", let alone anything having to do with physics, orbits, thrust, reaction mass, or any other technically-oriented subject. Even referring to it as "egg-shaped" will baffle many of them.

      They're too busy parroting shit about why PHP is so horrible while coding their new Flappy Bird app in Visual Basic and forgetting to sanitize their inputs, in between bouts of throwing racial slurs they got off of Breitbart and FOX News.

      --
      Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
    27. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      or is it EBCDIC vs ASCII?

    28. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No, literally 'egg-shaped'.

      Look... I was really, REALLY bad at ksp when I started playing.

    29. Re: JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Strictly speaking, even the desired circular orbit is elliptical. So they should have said non-circular elliptical orbit. (Although it's implied when they give the Xhelions.)

    30. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Alas, some eggs are routinely elliptical- with their widest point being in the middle not the end.

    31. Re:JOURNALISM by PatientZero · · Score: 1

      Clearly, they wanted Trump to be able to tweet something snarky about it.

      China saddle light launch failed. Egg foo young all over face! Not even in office and won space race! #MAGA

      --
      Freedom to fear. Freedom from thought. Freedom to kill.
      I guess the War on Terror really is about freedom!
    32. Re: JOURNALISM by PatientZero · · Score: 1

      It's an ellipsoidal orbit because the shape of the orbit is an ellipsoid.

      Ellipsoid: A three-dimensional figure whose plane sections are ellipses or circles.

      Satellite orbits are planar, i.e., two-dimensional. No need for ellipsoids.

      Lots of people want to try to appear smart.

      . . . by unnecessarily complicating things.

      Wow.

      Naw, it's simply human nature. Welcome to humanity!

      --
      Freedom to fear. Freedom from thought. Freedom to kill.
      I guess the War on Terror really is about freedom!
    33. Re:JOURNALISM by PatientZero · · Score: 1

      You needed more proof?

      --
      Freedom to fear. Freedom from thought. Freedom to kill.
      I guess the War on Terror really is about freedom!
    34. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ok, oval then.

    35. Re:JOURNALISM by drsquare · · Score: 1

      I thought this was supposed to be news for nerds?

    36. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      ok, oval then.

      There are a few caveats with this term. Oval does include elliptical shapes, but is far from being confined to elliptical shapes.

    37. Re:JOURNALISM by rickyslashdot · · Score: 1

      HUH ! REALLY ! ON SLASHDOT ???
      Jeez, where've YOU been vegetating the last half-dozen years ? ? ?

      --
      redneck geek
    38. Re:JOURNALISM by Tablizer · · Score: 1

      "That dress makes your endian look big"

      --
      Table-ized A.I.
    39. Re:JOURNALISM by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      That's just insulting. When I was a 15 year old American boy, I knew damn well what an ellipse was.

      Not at all. The media wasn't written for you, it was written for everyone. That includes the lowest common denominator and I guarantee there are many 15 year olds as well as many adults who don't have a clue what an ellipse is, let alone solving elliptical equations.

      If you want something to suit your brain, read the official materials not the ones that are presented to the general population, but don't feel insulted if not everything is written with you in mind.

    40. Re:JOURNALISM by thegarbz · · Score: 1

      I never said few. Most people probably do know what it is. "Most" doesn't reach 100% of a potential target audience.

    41. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "I never said few. "
      hmmm....
      "People know what eggs look like but few know what elliptical means "

      I am guessing you have Trump University degree....

    42. Re:JOURNALISM by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      With chinese satellites you can!

    43. Re:JOURNALISM by syntotic · · Score: 1

      They are going to use thrust or already did, trying to correct orbit. It is implied in the summary text. But anyway, it only makes that mission more expensive, less time to get data, harder to analyze data, different data consumers, etc. Not like you can get it all raw from google maps... Problem is we no longer want to hear news on failed missions, so far, five missions failed in a few months by nearly all spatial powers.

    44. Re:JOURNALISM by syntotic · · Score: 1

      My biophysics tell me Chinese do not know what to eat, they could not wholly incorporate Kitchen nor new (evolved) food regimes or sources in them, hence Chinese food is such a porridge of flavors and sources. Not that bad... but it also makes them somewhat cannibal and coprophagous naturally, which would be like one of those dark secrets of famed Chinese Dark and Secret Societies. Good to see I have a third party indication of the fact.

  7. Trumps tweet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Wrong Way Wong does it! America still the greatest!!

  8. Just... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Put a maneuvre node at the apoapsis and estimate the delta-v you need to raise the periapsis, no? Then warp to next maneuvre node and start thrusting...

    1. Re:Just... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Please understand, you *don't* have to go full impulse speed before entering warp speeds.

    2. Re:Just... by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      I'm sure they tried that, but the engine didn't actually thrust because they put on the stack separator upside down and it's blocking the exhaust.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
  9. Another Android Fail by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Anyone serious about satellite control would have used Embedded Windows, not that freetarded toy OS by Giggle.

  10. Wrong Orbit? by subk · · Score: 0

    I doubt it. More like "secret" orbit.

    --
    Now, if you'll excuse me, I have backups to corrupt.
    1. Re:Wrong Orbit? by dadman · · Score: 1

      I doubt it. More like "secret" orbit.

      Yes, very likely to be the truth.

    2. Re:Wrong Orbit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      just like "a government-owned entity" translates to "spies"

    3. Re:Wrong Orbit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

      I doubt it. More like "secret" orbit.

      You jest, but if anyone's inclined to take you seriously: it's unlikely. Observation (and spy) satellites need to be in a circular, sun-synchronous orbit. The second part is there, as they have the inclination of 97.6 degrees. However, an elliptical orbit with the apogee of 524 km tells us that the first (and possibly the only) circularization burn failed. A satellite in such an orbit is pretty much useless.

    4. Re:Wrong Orbit? by tomhath · · Score: 1

      The "egg shaped" orbit of this Chinese satellite is very close to the orbits of the US KH-11 spy satellites. So it might well be a knock off.

    5. Re:Wrong Orbit? by Tsingi · · Score: 1

      It's interesting that Wikipedia shows a conceptual drawing of a spy satellite. It can see us, can we not see it?

    6. Re:Wrong Orbit? by MachineShedFred · · Score: 1

      close, but a good 40km deeper into the atmosphere at perigee, which will induce more drag, reducing apogee height. If this thing is already not able to thrust to their intended orbit, the drag will eventually pull it down deeper into the atmosphere where it will burn up.

      The KH-11s probably have working thrusters that keep them in their orbits for their designed lifetimes, and there are probably replacements sitting in a hangar at Vandenberg AFB.

      --
      Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
    7. Re:Wrong Orbit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      133 miles perigee

      Wikipedia says 99 miles is sufficient.

      More Trump style media bullshit.

  11. USA +2 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    China -2

    Murica! Fuck Yeah!

  12. Not surprising by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    That's what happens when you buy cheap shit made in China.

  13. Very interesting by BlueCoder · · Score: 0

    Not sure what the orbit is but it would be a good cover story for a short term surveillance satellite. Especially to observe other satellites.

    1. Re:Very interesting by angel'o'sphere · · Score: 1

      Or even for a test to shut down/disable other satellites.

      --
      Cost free eBook I read (by iBook/Kobo/Amazon/ObookO/Gutenberg etc.): "The Green Odyssey" by Philip Jose Farmer.
    2. Re:Very interesting by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      >Or even for a test to shut down/disable other satellites.

      Do try to keep up: the Chinese already did that in 2007; the US in 1985.

  14. You care by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    You care. There was a deal done, his missing interest payment was made and he avoids defaulting on a loan. So now we speculate while we learn who bought what from Trump. You're defending him so obviously you care.

    What part of America did he sell?
    My guess is Putin gets to seize middle Asia oil pipelines, in exchange Trump will block NATO military.
    Or perhaps Exxon gets sanctions lifted against Russian oil deals, with Trump lifting the sanctions.
    Or perhaps Assad bought withdrawal of American forces.
    Or may Xi Jinping bought a favorable trade deal from Trump.
    Maybe Sergei Millian (Trump's fixer in Russia) bought a pardon.

    So much of America, Trump can sell to keep his sham of a company from collapsing again, and so many buyers prepared to pay the small sums in this firesale.

  15. You'd think they'd stump up for a few by Maritz · · Score: 2

    Copies of Kerbal Space Program. Hell, even pirate it.

    --
    I do not want your cheap brainburning drugs. They are useless for work. And I am a working man today.
  16. elliptical by Immerial · · Score: 5, Funny

    They know what it means... it's that thing you are supposed to use for exercise but use as a clothing stand.

  17. Ftfy by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Rocket Long March 2 composing genuine , flight of satellite egg duck spacing air.

    Ftfy. That's Alibaba.

  18. Egg shaped orbit? by Tsingi · · Score: 1

    They did pull off a first if they managed to establish an egg shaped orbit. Virtually every other orbit that isn't affected by a third body is elliptical.

    1. Re:Egg shaped orbit? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      other orbital shapes with two bodies are possible.

      circular orbit, unless you consider circle special case of ellipse where minor axis diameter equals major.

      there are also the open orbits, parabolic and hyperbolic.

      going for the really broad special cases, the other two conic sections are point and line which are also possible in two humorous circumstances.

    2. Re:Egg shaped orbit? by Tsingi · · Score: 1

      A circle is a sphere with equal radii. Is a parabolic course an orbit?
      Anyway, it was the egg shape that I objected to. Haven't gone back to read why I cared.

    3. Re:Egg shaped orbit? by iggymanz · · Score: 1

      Yes in orbital mechanics books you can read about "closed" and "open" orbits.

      A circle is two-dimensional object, sphere is 3D. A circle is not any type of sphere.

  19. South China Orbit? by MiniMike · · Score: 0

    Now China is going to claim that they own low Earth orbit, and forbid anyone else to move through it. But we will continue to do so, as the claim is ridiculous.

    1. Re:South China Orbit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Must you show how much of a clueless idiot you are in every topic?

    2. Re:South China Orbit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Very soon, the space junk in LEO will deny it to EVERYone, making getting to or through it dangerous if not statistically unlikely.

      Ain't nobody going to loft humans through that junk pile if you've got a big chance of being destroyed by a counter-rotating paint flake such as almost took out (burnt a hole more than halfway through the glass) the space shuttle's windshield one day (go look it up u lazy fuck).

    3. Re:South China Orbit? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      We see you posting a lot more than that guy.

  20. You are all too naive!!!1 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    They fails to put two satellites into correct orbits. But wait until those satellites crash in USA cities and kill thousand of people!!1

  21. See what happens with cheap knockoffs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1

    Buy American!

    Ya fuckin' foreign savages!

    1. Re:See what happens with cheap knockoffs? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would if it didn't cost 50% more.

  22. Call them what they are by JustAnotherOldGuy · · Score: 1

    "The high-resolution Earth-observing platforms..."

    In other words, "spy satellites specifically built for tracking people".

    --
    Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
  23. Ooops, space is hard... by foxalopex · · Score: 1

    Well despite all the jokes, admittedly doing anything in space is difficult and prone to failure even on systems that are "proven". Due to a programming failure, the European Mars lander ended up as a crater instead of landing and that's not the first Mars lander to mess up and probably not the last. Putting stuff into orbit sometimes doesn't even make it off the ground (SpaceX, Orbital Sciences).

  24. Chinese intelligence must be very upset by Rick+Schumann · · Score: 1

    Their two spy satellites are going to be toast, tough luck Chinese military intelligence.

    1. Re:Chinese intelligence must be very upset by g01d4 · · Score: 1

      Their two spy satellites are going to be toast

      Please don't say that. The Chinese way of decommissioning satellites can have an unhappy ending.

  25. taking out the profit motive by micahraleigh · · Score: 1

    By taking the profit motive out of the organization, we see our unlimited potential to succeed.

  26. Made in the US by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    They probably curse at the "Made in the US" printing on some of the parts

  27. The Chinese Method by ChoosyBeggar · · Score: 1

    Cut corners. Fail. Break it. Do it again, still cutting corners. Fail. Pass it off as acceptable.