A pair of Chinese spacecraft intended to enter lunar orbit appear to have been lost due to a problem with the upper stage of the Long March rocket
Chinese spacecraft intended to enter lunar orbit were likely lost due to a malfunction of the Long March rocket's upper stage.
The launch of the Long March 2C rocket took place from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center on March 13, but official confirmation of the launch was given only the next day, when Chinese state media reported problems that arose with the DRO-A and DRO-B. The satellites did not reach the intended orbit due to a malfunction of the Yuanzheng-1S rocket's upper stage.
It is currently unknown whether it is possible to save the mission, as well as in what orbit the lost satellites are located.
Information about the nature and purpose of the DRO-A and B satellites was not provided by Xinhua. However, it is believed that they were intended to reach lunar orbit. If so, then the DRO-A and B satellites were launched into high lunar orbit. Orbits of this kind are stable and have the potential to be used as communications waypoints for lunar exploration missions.
According to a 2023 paper published in the Journal of Deep Space Exploration, the DRO-A and B satellites are designed to provide communications with another satellite called DRO-L in low Earth orbit. The article also reveals the features of the navigation technology used in a pair of satellites placed in a distant retrograde orbit. In February this year, China successfully launched the DRO-L satellite into low-Earth orbit on the Jielong-3 rocket developed by IAMCAS of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
There have been no official plans announced by China for a mission to the Moon, nor have the launch targets for the DRO-A and B satellites been announced. However, the assumption of a lunar mission for this launch is bolstered by the fact that no new objects have been reported in Earth orbit , according to the U.S. Space Force Awareness Team. Launching objects beyond Earth's orbit usually takes longer to catalog. Additionally, airspace closure notices announced prior to launch indirectly confirm that the launch was intended to reach lunar orbit.
It appears that the DRO-A/B mission is not a major component of China's lunar exploration program, but is a technology test and orbital experiment that could potentially form part of China's larger ambitions for lunar navigation and communications infrastructure. The DRO-A and B satellites are relatively compact: the Long March 2C rocket can launch about 1,250 kilograms of payload into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO).
Despite the nature of the launch, shortly after the launch of the Long March 2C rocket, footage of the launch was published on the Chinese social network Douyin. Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense said on its social media page X that it detected and tracked a launch vehicle from Xichang flying through the Air Defense Identification Zone towards the Western Pacific Ocean.
The first signs that the launch did not go according to plan appeared due to official silence. Typically, China's top space contractor and rocket maker Long March, CASC, would immediately announce that the launch payload had successfully reached orbit, but information about the latest launch was not released until hours after liftoff. A successful launch report usually arrives within minutes for low-Earth orbit launches, but can take several hours, depending on the intended orbit. Chinese state media usually release a short statement within a few hours of launch if there is any problem with the launch vehicle. Information delays may indicate a technical problem during the mission.
The problem encountered on the last launch does not appear to have a significant impact on broader launch plans, as the problem may have affected the relatively rarely used YZ-1S upper stage. Since its first flight in 1982, the Long March has experienced only one malfunction in more than 70 launches. The anomaly that occurred on March 13 marked the first time that a Yuanzheng series upper stage failed to complete its task.
The launch comes amid CASC's announcement that the country is planning about 100 launches in 2024, including the Chang’e-6 mission to collect samples from the Moon.