(On pad failure?) - Kuaizhou-1A - Jiuquan - March 1, 2025 (10:01 UTC)

[Satori]

Thread for the March 1, 2025, launch of Gushenxing-1 (Y14) from Jiuquan.

[mikezang]

This is one might be Lijian-1 base on drop zone...

[Satori]

This is one might be Lijian-1 base on drop zone...

Once more, I'm going to ask you just to publish information that you are certain about. Please, do not speculate!

[mikezang]

The China NOTAM issued, looks like not Gushenxing-1, it might be launched at 10:01 UTC...

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Seems more likely to be a Kuaizhou-1A launch? The size of the 3rd stage drop zone seems to fit with its launches the msot.

[mikezang]

Seems more likely to be a Kuaizhou-1A launch? The size of the 3rd stage drop zone seems to fit with its launches the msot.

But there is no 2nd drop zone..

[mikezang]

YMMM F0832/25 and E0479/25 removed, I am not sure what this mean...

[mikezang]

Launched?

[mikezang]

It is said bad news...

[mikezang]

Seems more likely to be a Kuaizhou-1A launch? The size of the 3rd stage drop zone seems to fit with its launches the msot.

You are right, but notsuccessful:(...

[Alter Sachse]

According to Wikipedia (China) 10:01 UTC

[TheKutKu]

Rumors of failure on the TEL or shortly after lift off

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Rumors of failure on the TEL or shortly after lift off

The rumors that I have seen are pointing towards an explosion before or right at liftoff. One source claim that from their sources the TEL truck was "relatively intact" afterward.

Another one claimed that since it technically didn't launch, there might not be an official confirmation coming.

[Satori]

Rumors of failure on the TEL or shortly after lift off

The rumors that I have seen are pointing towards an explosion before or right at liftoff. One source claim that from their sources the TEL truck was "relatively intact" afterward.

Another one claimed that since it technically didn't launch, there might not be an official confirmation coming.

Are we sure that it was a KZ- 1A?

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Rumors of failure on the TEL or shortly after lift off

The rumors that I have seen are pointing towards an explosion before or right at liftoff. One source claim that from their sources the TEL truck was "relatively intact" afterward.

Another one claimed that since it technically didn't launch, there might not be an official confirmation coming.

Are we sure that it was a KZ- 1A?

Unfortunately no.
Though it seems insiders were pointing towards that (e.g. one commented that the LSP shouldn't have such problems for a (rocket) model that has been used for 8 years - the only rocket that fits is KZ-1A, first launched in January 2017) and those commenting under those tweets in Chinese all thought so as well.

Alas all those insider tweets have since been deleted so we may never know for sure.

[Satori]

According to some posts on sinodefenceforum.com:

- "There are rumors that this KZ-1A blew up before launch and that FTS was to blame."

- "We also know that Launch Area 95A may have been damaged, as a Ceres-1 rocket that was planned to launch from the same date had its NOTAM pushed back a day." (and later delayed without a new launch date).

[TheKutKu]

According to some posts on sinodefenceforum.com:

- "There are rumors that this KZ-1A blew up before launch and that FTS was to blame."

- "We also know that Launch Area 95A may have been damaged, as a Ceres-1 rocket that was planned to launch from the same date had its NOTAM pushed back a day." (and later delayed without a new launch date).

Do we know what's inside the hangar/building next to LC95A? This seems like the main infrastructure that could be damaged, since the pad proper is just concrete.

There are also reports of the TEL being towed away relatively soon after the failure.
Note that there is hypergolic propellant in the 4th stage of the KZ-1A, so the cleanup alone may not be easy.

Anyway, between the lack of transparency of CASIC for their previous on-ground failures and the fact that there was censorship about discussions of this on various sites, I wouldn't expect to hear much about this failure in the foreseeable future.

[Alter Sachse]

Chinese Wikipedia list now says neither success nor failure but “abort”.

[Satori]

Chinese Wikipedia list now says neither success nor failure but “abort”.

Well, some rumors say the failure was due to a problem on the FTS, but calling that an "abort"...

[Galactic Penguin SST]

Sentinel-2 photo taken about 6 hours ago shows something extra on the location of the concrete pad as compared with earlier days, but it's tough to tell if it's just the TEL truck still sitting there, or if there's any damage from it. We definitely need higher resolution satellite photos.