The Chinese company CAS Space reported an accident during the launch of the Kinetica-1 rocket on 27 December. It was lost along with its cargo.
CAS Space was founded in 2018. It is a subsidiary of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Like many other Chinese aerospace companies, CAS Space decided to start with lightweight solid-propellant launchers before gradually switching to more powerful liquid-propellant rockets. Its first rocket was the Kinetica-1. It has a four-stage construction. The carrier is 29.7 meters long and has a diameter of 2.65 meters. It can launch up to 2,000kg of cargo into low-Earth orbit.
Kinetica-1 made its debut in 2022. The first five launches of the rocket were successful, but the sixth flight ended in an accident. According to CAS Space, the rocket was launched on 27 December from Dongfeng Proving Ground in northern China. Initially, the flight proceeded normally. But three seconds after the third stage engine started, a malfunction occurred, triggering the emergency abort system. As a result, the rocket self-destructed.
What exactly caused the Kinetica-1 crash is still unknown. A total of 11 small satellites were on board the dead rocket. All of them were lost.
Earlier we reported on the accident that occurred during the second launch attempt of Japan’s private KAIROS rocket.
