14 DAY TRIAL // According to the Chinese state-run Xinhua news agency, a new satellite launched on Monday, December 9, failed to enter its designated orbit, following a glitch that affected its delivery system.
The high-resolution remote-sensing satellite, called Ziyuan I-03 (CBERS 3), was launched into space aboard a Long March 4b delivery system, from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center, in the Shanxi Province of northern China.
According to military sources, an error with the carrier rocket did not allow the satellite to be injected in its correct orbit, leading to the failure of the mission. The satellite, a joint program by China and Brazil, is estimated at $250 million (€182 million), Space reports.
CBERS 3 was the fourth China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite to be deployed to space. The spacecraft was to be used for land and water management, for studying urban development, and for observing crops, wildfires and deforestation in the Amazon.
The satellite's successor, CBERS 4, is already being developed, and scheduled to launch beyond 2014.