- Chinese space company Tianbing Aerospace Science and Technology announced that it had accidentally launched a test rocket.
- The Tianlong 3 is designed as a rival to SpaceX's Falcon 9, with a similar takeoff mass and re-flight capability.
- But during a stationary engine test on Sunday, the rocket launched and crashed into a mountain.
A Chinese space company said on Sunday that it had accidentally launched its Tianlong-3 rocket during a test, causing the craft to lift off and crash into a nearby mountainside.
Beijing-based Tianbing Aerospace Science and Technology said in a statement that it was testing the first stage of the rocket's power system when a “structural defect” caused the Tianlong-3 to separate from the launch pad.
If the test had been successful, the Cheonlong-3 would have remained stationary on the launch pad while its engines ignited.
The accidental launch was captured on video by several people near the city of Gongyi in Henan province.
Footage shows the rocket roaring into the sky, falling leaving a trail of black smoke before crashing to the ground and exploding in a dramatic fireball.
“The rocket's body disintegrated after falling into the mountain,” Tenpei's statement said.
Local authorities said the explosion sparked a fire away from residential areas but no one was injured.
The liquid-fueled rocket, designed to put satellites into orbit, is “comparable to SpaceX's Falcon 9,” according to Tenpei.
According to the aerospace company, the Tianlong 3 will be able to take off with a mass of 590 tons, which is comparable to the 605 tons of the Falcon 9. Like the Falcon 9, it is designed to be reflight-ready and is estimated to be partially reusable for up to 10 flights.
Tianbing, one of China's private space rocket companies that has attracted attention in recent years, launched another reusable rocket, Tianlong 2, fueled by coal-based kerosene, in April 2023.
Tianlong-3 is currently equipped with nine engines and is being touted by Tianbing as a revolutionary rocket for China's space industry.
“This is the most powerful power system test of any carrier rocket currently under development in China, three times more powerful than the highest thrust test to date in China's aerospace industry,” Tianbing wrote.
China opened up its space industry to private companies in 2014, triggering a wave of investment in reusable rockets and other aerospace technologies, which SpaceX has promoted as a key step in strengthening humanity's presence in space.
Chinese people reacting online to Sunday's accidental launch compared the failure to earlier problems SpaceX experienced during testing and launch of its Falcon rocket.
“Musk's Falcon 9 also had a lot of explosions at first. If all nine of the Tianlong 3's rockets can ignite simultaneously this time, the success rate can be said to be 70%,” one blogger wrote on Weibo, the Chinese version of X.
Sunday's accident came just days after Chinese President Xi Jinping instructed his country's science and technology sector to cooperate more closely with the state and step up competition with Western technological developments.
“We need to step up our sense of urgency. We need to step up our efforts to innovate, to take the lead in the science and technology race and future development,” he said on Tuesday.
