Not new news given this happened a week ago but I found it interesting anyway that Indonesia's new communications satellite Palapa-N1, also known as the Nusantara Dua, was lost in a Chinese Long March rocket launch failure from Sichuan province, China. 🛰️ https://www.space.com/china-long-march-3b-rocket-launch-failure.html
The first and second stages of the three-stage Long March 3B rocket appeared to perform well during the outset of Thursday's launch. But something went wrong with the third stage, raining debris back to Earth and destroying the Palapa-N1 satellite. https://twitter.com/LaunchStuff/status/1248220086827200513
Wreckage from the rocket third stage and the Palapa-N1 re-entered the atmosphere, according to Xinhua. Several videos shared on social media by people in Guam showed fiery debris moving across a moonlit night sky. https://twitter.com/SpaceflightNow/status/1248281910905917440
Apparently some debris was later located. Check this thread for lots more on the ill-fated launch, https://twitter.com/LaunchStuff/status/1248229405375242241
The Palapa N1 was a next-generation satellite for broadband and broadcast communications built for the Indonesian joint venture of Indosat Ooredoo and Pasifik Satelit Nusantara. An explainer here, including an effort to answer 'What do we do now?' 👇 https://westeastspace.com/2020/04/11/a-setback-palapa-n1-failure/
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