Flight anomaly delays ambitions for Tianlong-3 to start delivering satellites for Chinese megaconstellations
2-MIN READ2-MIN ListenLing Xinin OhioandVictoria Belain Hong KongPublished: 2:04pm, 3 Apr 2026China’s attempt to launch its most powerful privately developed rocket failed on Friday after the vehicle suffered a flight anomaly.
An anomaly occurred during the flight, resulting in a launch failure. The mission team will conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the mission and carry out improvement work, it said.
Previously, 108 Qianfan satellites have been launched in to orbit – a fraction of its target of roughly 1,300 orbiting satellites by the end of next year and not much closer to the longer-term goal of more than 15,000 by 2030.
Like the Falcon 9, which has launched thousands of Starlink broadband satellites, Tianlong-3 uses liquid oxygen and kerosene. They also have a comparable capacity to low Earth orbit.
