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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."

5 of 113 comments (clear)

  1. 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 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.”

  2. 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 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.

  3. 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.