VENICE, Italy — China continued its accelerated launch pace with a series of missions, but long silence followed liftoff of a Kuaizhou-11 solid rocket Wednesday, suggesting potential issues.
The Kuaizhou-11 solid rocket lifted off at around 11:40 p.m. (0340 UTC) from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. While Chinese social media posts indicated launch had occurred, silence followed for a number of hours. Such silence usually presages a launch failure, or problems with one or more payloads. At time of reporting, more than eight hours had passed since liftoff without official word on the mission.
The Kuaizhou-11 is a larger version of Expace’s Kuaizhou-1A. Its first launch in July 2020 ended in failure. It launched three times successfully since then, most recently a rideshare mission in March this year. A launch failure, if confirmed, would not have a profound impact on China’s launch plans, given Expace’s supplementary role in the country’s launch capabilities.
Long March 12 carries Guowang satellites to orbit
The Kuaizhou-11 mission followed shortly after a Long March 12 expendable rocket launch at 10:44 p.m. Eastern (0244 UTC, June 17) from Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) confirmed launch success, describing the payloads as the 22nd group of satellite internet low-Earth orbit satellites, correlating to the national Guowang broadband constellation.
