Chinese rocket static-fire test results in unintended launch and huge explosion A rocket stage test firing by Chinese commercial company Space Pioneer ended in catastrophic failure and a dramatic explosion Sunday.
  • BigFig@lemmy.worldEnglish
    15·
    4 days ago

    Wouldn’t be the first time. China drops debris and rocket stages on populated areas all the time

      • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.worksMEnglish
        4·
        4 days ago

        rocket fuel, which isn’t great for pretty much anything alive

        Depends on the rocket fuel.

        • Methalox: Harmless gases. Methane is a greenhouse gas, but it’s not toxic. Basically like a bunch of cows burping.
        • Kerolox: Kerosene is an oily liquid, so not great for the environment, but not highly toxic.
        • Hypergolics: Hydrazine derivatives and nitrogen tetroxide are both highly toxic.

        The Tianlong-3 in this article uses kerolox. The Long March 2C booster which fell near a village last week uses hypergols.

        • GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.caEnglish
          2·
          3 days ago

          Yeah, primarily hypergolics are the fun ones. I didn’t hear about the booster that fell near a village recently, but there was one that I think had an emergency dump over some village or town a few years ago.