BEIJING (Reuters) – Beijing Tianbing Technology Co said on Sunday that the first stage of its Tianlong-3 rocket under development had become detached from its launch pad during a test due to structural failure and landed in a hilly area of ​​Gongyi city in the center of Beijing. China.
After an initial investigation, there have been no reports of casualties, Beijing Tianbing, also known as Space Pioneer, said in a statement on its official WeChat account.
A separate statement from the Gongyi emergency management office said parts of the rocket stage were scattered within a “safe area” but caused a local fire.
The fire has since been extinguished and no one was injured, the agency said.
The two-stage Tianlong-3 (“Sky Dragon 3”) is a partially reusable rocket being developed by Space Pioneer, one of a small group of rapidly expanding private sector rocket manufacturers over the past five years.
Missile debris falling in China after launches is not unheard of, but it is very rare for part of a rocket under development to make an unplanned flight from the test site and crash.
According to Space Pioneer, the Tianlong-3’s first stage ignited normally during a hot test, but later separated from the test stand due to a structural failure and landed in hilly areas 1.5 km away.
According to Space Pioneer, Tianlong-3’s performance is comparable to SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
In April 2023, Space Pioneer launched a kerosene-oxygen rocket, the Tianlong-2, becoming the first private Chinese company to send a liquid-propellant rocket into space.
Chinese commercial space companies have entered the sector since 2014, when private investment in the industry was allowed by the state.
Many started out building satellites, while others, including Space Pioneer, focused on developing reusable rockets that could significantly reduce mission costs.
For safety reasons, the test locations of such companies are located along the Chinese coastal areas, located by the sea.
However, some are also located deep inland, such as Space Pioneer’s test center in Gongyi, a city of 800,000 people in central Henan province.
(Reporting by Ryan Woo and Ellen Zhang; Editing by Gareth Jones and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
