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After China launched a small X-ray satellite earlier today, fresh footage from the social media platform Weibo shows villagers running away in fear after the rocket made an uncontrolled landing on land. China, like other countries, does not have reusable rockets, and its launch vehicles are often criticized for landing too close to civilian sites. While supporters have stressed that all villages are evacuated before a rocket launch, this time around, it appeared that a few villagers were a little too close for comfort as they panicked and started to run away from the booster as it crashed and left orange smoke in its wake.
China's Long March 2C Rocket Purportedly Scares Villagers After Successfully Launching Satellite Developed In Partnership With French Space Agency
The launch took place from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in China's Sichuan province. The satellite was developed by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) and the French Space Agency (CNES) earlier today. Called the Space Variable Objects Monitor (SVOM) satellite, this spacecraft is a specialized imaging satellite that is designed to monitor gamma ray bursts from stars. A small satellite, the payload weighed 450 kilograms for a total weight of 930 kilograms and was launched on the Long March 2C rocket.
The Long March 2C is a small lift rocket capable of lifting roughly 4,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit (LEO). According to the CNES, it launched the satellite into a circular LEO 600 kilometers in altitude. The rocket's first stage is powered by four Chinese YF-21C rocket engines, which use dinitrogen tetroxide and hydrazine as the rocket fuel and oxidizer.
After the launch, X user China 'N Asia Spaceflight, which regularly shares updates for the Chinese space program and rocket launches, added a video attributed to a technology blogger on the social media platform Weibo. While the authenticity of the video cannot be independently verified, the X page shares authentic information and the latest clip shows the Long March 2C crashing down to Earth after the launch. Its fuel and oxidizer appear to be gushing out from the bottom of the rocket, with villagers running away while the rocket is crashing.
🙀 Behind the scenes of SVOM launch https://t.co/Fcc0OAY3ac pic.twitter.com/5fiM4oz2GY
— China 'N Asia Spaceflight 🚀𝕏 🛰️ (@CNSpaceflight) June 22, 2024
Chinese rocket launches have often garnered criticism for the uncontrolled descent of the rocket boosters that often land near or in populated areas. Officials have stressed that humans are evacuated from the nearby areas before launch to prevent casualties.
Another X user shared more images, one of which was sourced from the China News Network, of the rocket booster after its crash landing. The sourced image shows villagers gathered around the rocket after its crash, and portions of the vehicle were also on fire. The Long March 2C's propellant and oxidizer are highly toxic and can cause cancer, among a host of other diseases.
A deeper investigation by Wcccftech, conducted by scanning through the videos on Weibo, discovered the actual footage. While the description of the footage does not mention the Long March 2C or the satellite, comments from some users do indicate that the fumes were of hydrazine. Another user responded to a claim that the footage was of SpaceX's Starship by sharing that it was of the Long March 2C rocket launching the X-ray satellite earlier today.
A machine translated variant of the video's description shared that a netizen was "out playing when they suddenly saw an object falling from the sky. It was emitting yellow smoke when it was about to hit the ground."
About the author: Ramish is a seasoned technology writer and editor with more than a decade of experience. He specializes in semiconductor fabrication and market analysis. With a background in finance and supply chain management - via his bachelors in Finance and a micromasters in supply chain management from MIT - Ramish combines financial rigor with deep industry insight to deliver accurate and authoritative coverage.
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