Latest China satellite launch fails, say reports

China has failed in its latest space launch that aimed to put one of its most advanced Earth-observation satellites into orbit, according to reports by independent media on Friday, though no official confirmation has been made so far.

The Chinese government fired a Long March 4C rocket on Thursday from the Taiyuan Space Launch Centre in the northern province of Shanxi to carry the satellite into orbit, but the attempt failed and it plunged back to Earth, EFE news quoted the daily South China Morning Post as saying, based on a report issued by the aihangtian.com website, run by astronautics experts.

The daily added that police from a neighbouring province confirmed the mission's failure through a post on Weibo -- China's Twitter -- complete with photos showing the search for debris, though the post was deleted soon afterwards.

The apparatus was one of the seven earth-observation satellites of the Gaofen series that China plans to put into orbit before the end of this decade, after launching the first of them three years ago.

If confirmed, it would be China's first failed launch since 2013, when the Chinese-Brazilian CBERS-3 crashed owing to a functional defect in the launch vehicle after the take off.

--IANS

lok/vd