As per reports, a Chinese satellite failed to enter the orbit due to reasons unknown.
The optical remote-sensing satellite Jilin-1 Gaofen 02C, which was launched aboard the Kuaizhou-1A carrier rocket from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China failed to enter the preset orbit.
Amateur footage of the apparent launch appeared on Chinese social media shortly after.
The launch center said that some abnormal performance was identified during the rocket’s flight.
Chinese launches to low-Earth and Sun-synchronous orbits are usually confirmed successful within an hour of liftoff. State media provided official confirmation of the failure (Chinese) five hours after launch.
The launcher was carrying the Jilin-1 Gaofen (‘high resolution’) 02C optical Earth observation satellite. The satellite was understood to have 0.76-meter resolution capabilities with a swath width of 40 kilometers.
The cause of the failure is under investigation.
This mission was the fourth Chinese failure of 2020 from 26 launches. Inaugural launches of the Long March 7A and the Expace Kuaizhou-11 failed, while an issue with the workhorse Long March 3B led to the loss of the Indonesian Palapa-N1 communications satellite.