Zhuque-1, a privately developed Chinese carrier rocket by Beijing-based Landspace, lifts off from the launch pad at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu province, China October 27, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer

BEIJING (Reuters) - A privately developed Chinese carrier rocket failed to reach orbit after lifting off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Saturday, in a blow to the country’s nascent attempts by private companies to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The three-stage rocket, Zhuque-1, was developed by Beijing-based Landspace. The company said in a microblog post after nominal first and second stages that the spacecraft failed to reach orbit as a result of an issue with the third stage.

“Before Zhuque carrier rocket was launched, its mission was already completed,” the company said in the post on Saturday, without giving further details.

Landspace was founded in 2015 and soon aimed to be the first Chinese private company to deliver a satellite into orbit. The company said it was the first private licensed company in China to launch carrier rockets.

Zhuque-1 was carrying a satellite named “Future” built for state media China Central Television.

In May, China launched “Chongqing Liangjiang Star” into space, the first rocket developed by Beijing-based private firm OneSpace Technology.

Since coming to office in 2012, President Xi Jinping has made becoming a “space flight superpower” a priority for the government, which has a goal of sending a permanent manned space station into orbit by around 2022.</s>China’s first try at sending a privately developed rocket that could carry a satellite into space failed during a launch Saturday.

The first and second stage of the Zhuque-1 rocket operated as it should have, according to Beijing-based Landspace, which developed the spacecraft. But the rocket ultimately didn’t reach orbit after something went wrong with the third stage, Reuters reports.

Landspace posted to its Weibo social media account, saying that “cowling separation was normal but something abnormal happened after the second stage,” though it did not elaborate further on the subject, according to Reuters and the Associated Press. The statement did say building such rockets is “the right decision for the company.”

The satellite involved in the launch was being carried for state media China Central Television (CCTV), according to Chinese media reports cited by Reuters and the AP.

Another Beijing-based private firm, OneSpace Technology, successfully launched a smaller rocket, the “Chongqing Liangjiang Star,” into space in May.</s>China’s attempt to launch a privately developed carrier rocket into space was a failure. According to Reuters, the rocket developed by Beijing-based Landscape failed to reach orbit after lifting off at 4 a.m. Eastern on Saturday, Oct. 27, from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The Zhuque-1, or ZQ-1, which was designed to be capable of carrying a satellite into space, was the first three-stage rocket built by a private company in China.

Landscape said in statement posted on its official WeChat account that the spacecraft failed to reach orbit because of an issue with the third stage. It said that the problem with the rocket occurred soon after the second stage separation. The company nonetheless said that it still considers the mission completed. “Before Zhuque carrier rocket was launched, its mission was already completed,” the company said without providing further details.

Landscape was founded in 2015 and aimed to become the first Chinese private company to launch a satellite into orbit. The company claims to be the first private licensed company in China to launch a carrier rocket.

Citing Chinese media, Fox News said that the spacecraft was carrying a satellite named “Future,” which was built for state broadcaster China Central Television. The lost payload was intended to be used for a science outreach series.

It was Landscape’s first attempt to build a rocket, and despite the incident, the company said that it will continue to build rockets. “We still believe that building rockets is the right strategy for the company. We are the first Chinese private company to build a three-stage carrier rocket. That’s already a great achievement,” the company said in a statement, according to China.org. “We will carry on with our dream for the vast space.”

Space News said that the 27-metric ton rocket is 19 meters tall and spans 1.3 meters in diameter. It cost around $14 million to develop and received funding from private sector and partly-state-owned backers.

It may still be a long way to go before private companies in China can compete with space companies in the United States. Elon Musk, the CEO of SpaceX, is in fact already setting his eyes on sending a spacecraft to planet Mars. His company has under its belt a number of successful missions to the International Space Station and has successfully reused rockets.

Earlier this year, SpaceX also made history when it launched Musk’s cherry-red Tesla Roadster into space on a course to the asteroid belt.</s>China's first attempt to launch a commercially-built rocket into space failed, after the rocket's third stage engine malfunctioned.

Beijing-based LandSpace said late Saturday that the launch proceeded as expected until something went wrong with the final stage. Zhuque-1, or ZQ-1, is the first commercially-built Chinese three-stage rocket.

"Cowling separation was normal but something abnormal happened after the second stage," the company said in a statement, without providing any further details of the incident.

"We still believe that building rockets is the right strategy for the company. We are the first Chinese private company to build a three-stage carrier rocket. That's already a great achievement," the statement said. "We will carry on with our dream for vast space."

According to Chinese media report, ZQ-1 was carrying a "Future" satellite for Chinese CCTV broadcaster.</s>LandSpace has made an attempt to become the first Chinese private company to send a payload into space. On Saturday, October 27, the startup’s Zhuque-1 rocket took to the skies with the Weilai-1 small satellite but failed to deliver it into its intended orbit.

Zhuque-1 (what means “Vermilion Bird” in Chinese) lifted off at 4:00 p.m. local time (8:00 GMT / 4:00 a.m. EDT) from a mobile platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in China’s Gansu Province.

The flight went as expected until the rocket’s third stage assumed control over the mission. The separation of the first and second stage, as well as payload fairing, was carried out successfully. There are reports that the failure of attitude control on the third stage resulted in the loss of the spacecraft as it was unable to reach the planned Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).

As of this writing, LandSpace is not offering any detailed information about the failure. The company only laconically said on its social media account that “cowling separation was normal but something abnormal happened.”

Very little information was released by Chinese media outlets about the launch and pre-launch preparations. LandSpace initially planned to conduct the mission on October 14 from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site located on the island of Hainan. However predictions of bad weather for mid-October for the southern regions of China, forced the company to change the location and date of the launch.

Zhuque-1, or ZQ-1 for short (also known as LandSpace-1) is a three-stage solid-propellant light-lift rocket. Weighing some 27 metric tons, the launcher is 62.3 ft. (19 meters) tall and 4.43 ft. (1.35 meters) in diameter. It is capable of lifting up to 660 lbs. (300 kilograms) into a low-Earth orbit (LEO) and up to 440 lbs. (200 kilograms) to SSO.

LandSpace is also developing the liquid oxygen/methane-fueled Zhuque-1 (ZQ-2) – a medium-lift launch vehicle, about 160 ft. (48.8 meters) tall and 11 ft. (3.35 meters) in diameter. The rocket is designed to be able to carry up to 4.0 metric tons to LEO and 2.0 metric tons to SSO.

The lost payload of Saturday’s launch was a small satellite designed for science experiments and remote sensing, known as Weilai-1 (Future-1). The spacecraft weighs around 88 lbs. (40 kilograms) and has dimensions of 1.26 x 1.16 x 0.98 inch (3.2 x 2.95 x 2.48). Weilai-1 is based on MinoSpace Technology’s MN10 platform and was planned to be operated by China Central Television (CCTV).

The Beijing-based LandSpace was founded by Tsinghua University in 2015. It is one of several private Chinese space companies created after the government decided to open the space sector to private capital in late 2014.

The launch of Zhuque-1 marked the 30th orbital mission for China and the first unsuccessful in 2018. The next Chinese launch is expected to take place on October 29, when a Long March 2C is scheduled to deliver the CFOSAT Earth-observing satellite for the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and French space agency CNES.</s>China’s first privately-built space rocket has failed to make it to orbit after something “abnormal” happened during the third stage of lift-off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Saturday.

Beijing-based ‘LandSpace’ was the first private company in China to build a three-stage rocket. They said the first and second stage of its Zhuque-1 (ZQ-1) rocket launch went off without a hitch, but something went terribly wrong in the third and final stage.

READ MORE: Oxygen discovery ‘completely changes’ potential for life on Mars - study

“If the launch mission can go well, the ZQ-1 will become China's first private carrier rocket that can send satellites into space,” said LandSpace CEO Zhang Changwu ahead of the groundbreaking launch, which followed nine months of development.

Video footage of the disastrous rocket launch shows the 19-meter-tall (62 ft) spacecraft lifting off into clear blue skies. It was reportedly carrying a satellite for the Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, with a takeoff weight of 27 tons and a thrust of 45 tons. It cost a reported $14 million to develop.

LandSpace said in a Weibo post about the launch failure that “the first and second levels worked normally, the fairing separated normally, and the third level was abnormal.” They did not elaborate further on the details of the incident.

“We are convinced that ‘direct carrier rockets’ is the right decision [for the company],” the statement continued. “Today, LandSpace is the first company in China to obtain a Chinese private carrier rocket launch license. It is the first private company in China to erect a three-stage launch vehicle.”

“In the future, LandSpace will continue to move forward.”

While this venture failed, the next attempt shouldn’t be far behind. China currently has more than 60 private commercial space companies vying to reach the first milestone.

This week wasn’t all bad for Chinese space projects, however. The Chinese company Shanghai ManWei Technology launched the world’s first space gene bank into orbit on Thursday. The bank holds genetic material from eight Chinese citizens which will be stored in space for thousands of years.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story!</s>The first rocket sent into space by a private Chinese company has failed mid-launch.

The 62 foot tall (19 metre) Zhuque-1 carrier rocket, which cost a private company around $14million (£10million) to develop, failed to reach earth's orbit.

It took off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in north west China on Saturday.

The Beijing based company Landspace developed a carrier rocket to take satellites up to space to orbit the earth.

The rocket was three stage, meaning it had another two rockets inside to reach outer space, but the company said something went wrong with the second stage.

It was designed to send a Weila-1 satellite named 'Future' into space for the country's state broadcaster, CCTV News.

Landscape said: '[The rocket] separation was normal but something abnormal happened after the second stage.'

A spokesman for the company said: 'We still believe that building rockets is the right strategy.

'We are the first Chinese private company to build a three-stage carrier rocket.

'That's already a great achievement. We will carry on with our dream for the vast space.'

It privatised parts of the space industry in 2014, allowing private companies to develop small satellites and launch rockets. Landspace was founded a year later.

At least ten Chinese companies are making their own launch rockets.

President Xi Jingping said China could become a 'space flight superpower' with a manned space station in orbit by 2022.

It is not clear if the company's failure will have an impact on its plans to launch a taller two stage rocket, Zhuque-2, in 2020.

The second rocket was due to be double the size at 157 foot tall (48 metres), and the company had been due to start building this next year.

Landspace would have been the first first private licensed company to send a rocket into outer space, the South African Times reported.</s>BEIJING, China – China’s first attempt to deploy a privately developed rocket capable of carrying a satellite has failed.

Beijing-based Landspace said that the first and second stage of its ZQ-1 rocket worked normally on Saturday but something went wrong with the third stage.

The ZQ-1 was the first three-stage rocket built by a private company in China. A smaller private rocket was launched in May.

Video posted by a Chinese news site showed Landspace’s 19-meter- (62-foot-) tall red-and-white rocket lifting off against clear blue skies.

The company said that “cowling separation was normal but something abnormal happened after the second stage.” The statement on its Weibo social media account did not elaborate.

Chinese media reports said the rocket was carrying a satellite for state broadcaster CCTV.

The Landspace statement said that it still believes that building satellite-carrying rockets is “the right decision for the company.”</s>A privately developed Chinese carrier rocket failed to reach orbit after lifting off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Saturday, in a blow to the country’s nascent attempts by private companies to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX.

The three-stage rocket, Zhuque-1, was developed by Beijing-based Landspace. The company said in a microblog post after nominal first and second stages that the spacecraft failed to reach orbit as a result of an issue with the third stage.

“Before Zhuque carrier rocket was launched, its mission was already completed,” the company said in the post on Saturday, without giving further details.

Landspace was founded in 2015 and soon aimed to be the first Chinese private company to deliver a satellite into orbit. The company said it was the first private licensed company in China to launch carrier rockets.

In May, China launched “Chongqing Liangjiang Star” into space, the first rocket developed by Beijing-based private firm OneSpace Technology.

Since coming to office in 2012, President Xi Jinping has made becoming a “space flight superpower” a priority for the government, which has a goal of sending a permanent manned space station into orbit by around 2022.</s>By The Associated Press

BEIJING (AP) — China’s first attempt to deploy a privately developed rocket capable of carrying a satellite has failed. Beijing-based Landspace said that the first and second stage of its ZQ-1 rocket worked normally on…

BEIJING (AP) — China’s first attempt to deploy a privately developed rocket capable of carrying a satellite has failed.

Beijing-based Landspace said that the first and second stage of its ZQ-1 rocket worked normally on Saturday but something went wrong with the third stage.

The ZQ-1 was the first three-stage rocket built by a private company in China. A smaller private rocket was launched in May.

Video posted by a Chinese news site showed Landspace’s 19-meter- (62-foot-) tall red-and-white rocket lifting off against clear blue skies.

The company said that “cowling separation was normal but something abnormal happened after the second stage.” The statement on its Weibo social media account did not elaborate.

Chinese media reports said the rocket was carrying a satellite for state broadcaster CCTV.

The Landspace statement said that it still believes that building satellite-carrying rockets is “the right decision for the company.”

Copyright © 2018 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, written or redistributed.
Beijing-based private development space launch company LandSpace's three-stage rocket, Zhuque-1, carrying a satellite named Future built for state media China Central Television, fails to reach orbit.