The Zhuque-2 mission (Chu Tuoc 2) is China's first commercial-developed liquid fuel missile launch.
The world's first methane fuel rocket launched into orbit has failed to achieve its target - Space News reported.
The Zhuque-2, developed by China-based startup Landspace, was launched on December 14 as the first Orbital mission of a methane-powered rocket and the first time China has launched a commercial-use liquid-fuel rocket.
Despite high hopes for the historical mission, it appears that Zhuque-2 failed to achieve an orbit and lost the 14 satellites it carried.
The launch took place at China's Zhu Zhuan Satellite Launching Center in the Gobi Desert at 8:30 a.m. GMT (15:30 p.m. Vietnam time) on December 14, with the goal of putting many types of commercial satellites into orbit in sync with the Sun.
However, according to reports, the second phase of the missile failed, leading to the mission's failure and the loss of all satellites.
The Chinese space agency has yet to make an official statement about the launch. However, the video that appeared on Twitter after launching seems to show abnormalities on the second layer of the missile, making it impossible for the Zhuque-2 to reach trajectory speed.
Quick photos from China's missile launch site seem to show that the first phase of the missile was operating well, but the serious loss of altitude and speed occurred about five minutes after the flight.
Landspace has developed a second Zhuque-2 rocket, but it is unknown when another launch attempt will be made.
Despite the failure of Zhuque-2, the mission continues to demonstrate the rapid progress of China's space program, both in terms of national and trade capabilities. China is about to successfully launch nearly 60 launches in 2022 and has recently completed the T-shaped Tianjin Cosmodrome Station.
China's private aerospace companies have also made progress this year, as many launch service providers have begun putting loads into orbit on behalf of the state-owned Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC).
