China has failed to fully launch on Sunday the Long March-5 Y2 rocket after its initial takeoff. Chinese authorities speculated that "an anomaly" is behind the unsuccessful launch.
Failed launch
Xinhua News, the country's official press agency, tweeted on Sunday that the said heavy-lift rocket's launch had been unsuccessful. The Long March-5 Y2 rocket is reported to transport China's heaviest satellite to the moon, supposedly preceding a similar rocket type to be launched later this year.
A Reuters report said the failed rocket is "expected to take China's latest lunar probe to the Moon this year and to return with samples". It remains a mystery now if the communist nation would be able to fulfil its timetable for moon exploration.
Chinese authorities have questioned the abortive launch of the Long March-5 Y2 rocket, saying that "an anomaly occurred" during its flight. The investigation is now underway, according to Xinhua News.
The 75-tonne Long March-5 Y2 rocket blasted off early Sunday evening when it took off from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in the southern island province of Hainan.
China's space program
China has long been progressing in its space program. It became the third country to land a spacecraft on the moon in 2013. This was followed by a lunar probe in 2014. In its timetable, China targets to be the first country to soft-land on the far side of the moon by 2018 and to land on Mars by 2020.
President Xi Jinping is advancing China's agenda to boost its national security and defense. The government has underscored that it is a purely peaceful move.
This, however, is not what the US Defense Department sees as it believes that China is undermining other countries' space exploration and prevent them from using space-based assets during a crisis.
China is also suspected of exploiting the moon's rich helium-3 resource which cannot be found on earth. This is a good source of energy security.
