A Long March 7A rocket from China exploded about 85 seconds after takeoff from the Wenchang space center, located on the island of Hainan, on August 10, 2026. Amateurs recorded the incident on videos, and Chinese authorities confirmed the failure of the mission due to an anomaly during the flight.
According to a statement from the Chinese state agency Xinhua, the vehicle departed at 8:02 pm Beijing time, equivalent to 9:02 am in Brasília, carrying the ChinaSat-4B satellite. The investigation into the exact cause of the failure is still ongoing.
Catastrophic failure hits Chinese rocket shortly after launch
Images captured near the spaceport and posted on social media show the destruction of the rocket approximately one minute and 25 seconds after ignition. Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Center for Astrophysics, Harvard & Smithsonian, analyzed the videos, indicating that the rocket was completely disintegrated at low altitude and speed.
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This occurrence means that neither the satellite nor the rocket fragments were able to reach Earth orbit. The accident interrupted a series of successful Long March 7A launches that had been occurring since its first mission.
A report from China National Radio, which was later removed from a page hosted by Baidu, identified the payload as Zhongxing-4B, also known as ChinaSat-4B. The document also referred to the vehicle as a modified version of the Long March 7, another designation for the 7A model.
ChinaSat-4B satellite has similarities with previous model launched in 2024
ChinaSat-4B is part of the same lineage as ChinaSat-4A, launched in 2024. Available information suggests that the predecessor satellite was responsible for voice, data, radio and television transmission services, as described by China.
Communication satellites in high orbits have the ability to retransmit television signals and telecommunications services over vast areas, including remote locations that do not have coverage by terrestrial networks. However, it is not yet known with certainty whether ChinaSat-4B would have the same functions, target audience or identical capabilities as ChinaSat-4A.
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The Long March 7A is a medium-sized rocket designed to carry payloads to higher orbits, including missions destined for geostationary orbit.
Explosion’s impact could delay China’s future space missions
The August 10 explosion was the Long March 7A’s first failure since its debut in March 2020, when an anomaly also caused that mission to fail. The rocket successfully resumed operations the following year and completed more than a dozen incident-free launches before the recent one.
The current failure could lead to rigorous review and verification of other Chinese releases. This would occur if the investigation identifies common problems with components, manufacturing processes or operations carried out at the Wenchang space center.
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China is also preparing the Chang’e-7 lunar mission, which will be launched by Long March 5 from Wenchang. Chinese authorities have officially reported that this mission is scheduled for the second half of 2026, with some observers pointing to a possible launch window later this month. It is important to note that the Long March 5 is a larger and different rocket from the Long March 7A.
Chang’e-7’s main objective is to explore the Moon’s south pole, focusing on craters that are permanently shadowed, where there is potential for water ice deposits.