China's Kuaizhou-1A Solid Rocket Fails to Reach Orbit; 2 Satellites Developed for Geely Automobile Navigation Wrecked

Chinese enterprise Expace recently conducted a space launch last Tuesday, December 14. However, issues manifested during the lunch phase of their solid rocket called. This failed the supposed commercial satellites mission that the company will introduce. According to a report from Space, the departure of the said rocket was ultimately unsuccessful without the vessel reaching orbit at the expected time.

Kuaizhou-1A December 2021 Launch

CHINA-SPACE-SATELLITE-INTERNET — A Kuaizhou-1A carrier rocket with a Chinese character slogan that reads "Heroic Wuhan, Great China" lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in China's northwest Gansu province carrying two communications satellites on May 12, 2020. - The satellites, one of them named after the city of Wuhan, the city hit by the COVID-19 coronavirus, are the first in a network of 80 satellites for China's new space-based Internet-of-Things project, dubbed Xingyun. STR/AFP via Getty Images

China National Space Administration's facilitated the launch of Kuaizhou-1A in their Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, located in the Gobi Desert. The flight was ejected at 9 PM, Tuesday, carrying two satellite instruments developed exclusively for Geespace. The firm conducted the collaborative mission because of a planned testing activity that should present the autonomous driving navigation assistance of the satellites for the automobile company Geely Global.

According to the report, China released an update right after the incident of Kuaizhou-1A's launch. The country's state media delivered the relay of news, and based on the information provided, the rocket 'flew abnormally' that caused the wreck of the solid rocket. Based on a short news description, the team behind the space launch is currently investigating the specific factors that led the project to demise.

ExPace launches were a bit problematic during the previous missions that the company conducted back in recent attempts. In July 2020, the space firm launched the first and only flight of a larger rocket called Kuaizhou-11. In September of the same year, the initial launch for Kuaizhou-1A took place. Both flights were met with issues upon launch, making the tests and following missions that will be carried by the crafts unsuccessful.

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ExPace Kuaizhou-1A Ups and Downs

However, ExPace bounced back with their Kuaizhou-1A in 2021. The launch for the same rocket model was successful and did a hat trick before, reaching orbit during the months of September, October, and November consecutively.

The recent failure of an ExPace launch could be a loss for the company, but it marked the beginning of a new op[portunity for other contenders of the space race in China. According to a report by SpaceNews, the inconsistent performance and failing missions of ExPace proposes a wide gateway for startups and competitors in the country to exhibit their distinct capacity and reliability. The Kuaizhou-1A incident this December might be the last window for other teams and companies to analyze what went wrong as they develop each of their projects. In the meantime, ExPace would repair the damages and locate the cause of malfunction on their rocket.

The failure of ExPace last Tuesday was just one among the great number of China's attempts to reach beyond the atmospheric regions. The efforts for Kuaizhou-1A solid rocket were the 51st launch of the country in 2021. The frequency of China's space launches exceeded their highest record of 39 in 2018 and 2020.

ExPace's December launch follows just days after Galactic Energy's Ceres-1 solid rocket flight. The next big space launch from China is expected to take place sometime in the first quarter of 2022 and will be conducted by a separate state-owned company called CAS Space.