{"id":50691,"date":"2025-08-07T16:18:04","date_gmt":"2025-08-07T16:18:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/50691\/"},"modified":"2025-08-07T16:18:04","modified_gmt":"2025-08-07T16:18:04","slug":"scorch-marks-at-deep-blues-test-site-in-china-point-to-reusable-rocket-failure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/50691\/","title":{"rendered":"Scorch marks at Deep Blue\u2019s test site in China point to reusable rocket failure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A leading Chinese rocket company appears to have quietly failed another key reusability test, casting doubt on its goal of flying and landing China\u2019s first <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/news\/china\/science\/article\/3290445\/spacex-and-7-dwarves-chinese-space-firms-line-enter-reusable-rocket-race?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">reusable rocket<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Publicly available satellite images suggest an explosion took place at Deep Blue Aerospace\u2019s test site near Ejin Banner, Inner Mongolia, some time between late July and early August.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Dramatic scorch marks can be seen east of the launch pad \u2013 on the opposite side from where the rocket was supposed to land \u2013 indicating it may have veered off course shortly after lift-off before crashing during its attempted touchdown.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Annotated satellite images shared by space enthusiasts on Chinese social media suggest Deep Blue Aerospace\u2019s rocket veered more than 600 metres off course during its latest VTVL test, leaving a large scorch mark at the suspected crash site. Photo: Handout\" data-qa=\"BaseImage-handleRenderImage-StyledImage\" class=\"e1gf69pb2 css-6ikqhs e445x7d0\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/20a06b6c-c472-4f36-b3fe-6846f2c9529a_80a1312d.jpg\" title=\"Annotated satellite images shared by space enthusiasts on Chinese social media suggest Deep Blue Aerospace\u2019s rocket veered more than 600 metres off course during its latest VTVL test, leaving a large scorch mark at the suspected crash site. Photo: Handout\"\/>Annotated satellite images shared by space enthusiasts on Chinese social media suggest Deep Blue Aerospace\u2019s rocket veered more than 600 metres off course during its latest VTVL test, leaving a large scorch mark at the suspected crash site. Photo: Handout<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The company did not respond to inquiries from the South China Morning Post. However, a source familiar with the matter who asked not to be named confirmed that the flight had \u201cended in failure\u201d.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">The test was believed to be a vertical take-off, vertical landing (VTVL) flight, similar to one carried out by Deep Blue about a year ago, according to the source. In a VTVL, a prototype rocket lifts off vertically and tries to land back at or near the same spot, a crucial step in developing reusable launch systems.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">In that September 2024 flight, the rocket completed most of its planned manoeuvres but lost control during the final descent, crash-landing on the recovery pad and damaging its upper section.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">If confirmed by the company, the more recent flight would be a step backwards in terms of control and precision.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A leading Chinese rocket company appears to have quietly failed another key reusability test, casting doubt on its&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[891,28109,28105,27962,10421,28104,28107,90,28110,28111,416,28108,412,56,54,55,28106],"class_list":["post-50691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-china","tag-deep-blue-aerospace","tag-ejin-banner","tag-inner-mongolia","tag-jiangsu","tag-nebula1-rocket","tag-reusable-rocket","tag-science","tag-sentinel2-satellite","tag-south-china-morning-post","tag-space","tag-space-pioneer","tag-spacex","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom","tag-vtvl"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}