14 DAY TRIAL // In a recent statement released by the China Great Wall Industry Corp. (CGWIC), engineers finally shed some light on the reason why the China–Brazil Earth Resources Satellite 3 (CBERS-3) and its carrier rocket were lost during a launch mishap on December 9, 2013.
The spacecraft was developed by the Center for Resources Satellite Data and Application in China and the National Institute for Space Research in Brazil. It launched towards low-Earth orbit aboard a China National Space Administration (CNSA) Long March 4B delivery system. This takeoff was the first failure for the heavy-lift rocket, putting its total tally at 19 successes and 1 complete failure.
According to CGWIC, the delivery system was lost due to debris that became clogged in a fuel intake on one of the two identical upper stage engines. This triggered the premature shutdown of engine number two, leaving the delivery system with insufficient thrust to complete its ascent, Space News reports.
CBERS-3 was introduced into an unusable orbit, but it was able to power on, deploy its solar arrays, and transmit signals back to Earth. A joint statement from China and Brazil mentioned that the data recovered in this manner had already been put to good use accelerating the development of CBERS-4, which is already under construction.